Shimmering Breach
by Hax1021
Summary: Set in the Old Republic era in an alternate universe, the story takes place approximately 3000 BBY. It follows a Twi'lek and her friends as she tries to escape the various conflicts raging across the Galaxy, but keeps finding herself drawn in. This story features an original cast of characters.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Notation: For all those who don't know what this story is, I thought I'd add a little preface. It's a Star Wars FanFiction in a very loose sense. The full cast are my OCs (potentially there will be cameos of others peoples OCs, but never any canon/legends characters.) and I've set it up in an alternate universe/timeline post-KotOR 2 by a margin of two hundred years or so. The story is independent of the events of the SW:ToR game. (This is the alternate universe part) So outside of the Star Wars staples of the era, consider it a blank slate.

* * *

It all had to end sometime. Saerith just wasn't expecting it to be today.

 _I don't want to die like this._

She'd often thought about the end. People had tried to kill her more than once, but she'd always imagined herself going out with a cocky grin on her face. Her blaster in hand, never expecting she'd meet her end here; kneeling on the third floor of an abandoned and rundown apartment building. The tip of a blaster firmly pressed against the back of her head.

Tears streamed freely down her face, and she struggled to quell the waves of panic rolling through her chest. Her mind raced, and a thousand thoughts crowded for her attention. The tactile sensation of tears rolling off the end of her chin sparked a moment of insanity, and she laughed despite everything.

 _Why am I crying?_

She knew she wasn't trying to stir his sympathy. Saerith didn't believe anything she said or did would save her life now. The war on Dantooine had hardened the hearts of anyone who had survived this long.

 _Mine didn't harden enough I guess._

"I don't want to die."

she spoke without thinking and a deep-seated anger roared to life. Saerith had never been confident, but she'd always envisioned a future in which she could better herself. If only things in her life would settle. If only every life she tried to build would stop falling apart. If only things could go her way just once. She had the potential to be the person she wanted. Everything else was stopping her. She knelt on that floor, moments from death and her anger stripped away the lie.

 _Potential, she thought, such a stupid word._

It was true her life hadn't been easy, but that was no excuse. Every time things got harder she shied away. Had worn her self-pity as a shield, and without realizing she'd used it to deflect every reason and opportunity to improve. Potential just meant you hadn't done anything yet.

"What's that?" her soon to be murderer asked. "What did you say?"

The anger in her chest soared higher.

 _Why did he care?_

"Just get it over with."

Her voice flat, and her eyes full of loathing. Her thoughts quieted, and her anger settled as she made peace with her death. She felt the gun press hard enough to tilt her head forward, and in the dead the rooms dead silence that followed she imagined she could hear the trigger being pulled.

 _Had to end sometime._

Before that end could find her however, the door to the room slid open and they both looked.

Standing in the doorway was a man. His dark attire created a stark contrast against his incredibly pale skin. Like he was being observed through a colorless filter. His long raven colored hair, tied back into a ponytail served to sharpen the impression. Grey eyes swept over the room taking it all in. No expression telling them what he thought of the situation.

As her executor swept the gun away from her head to point it at the newcomer hope flared in Saerith chest.

 _They don't know each other._

The pale stranger didn't look concerned with the blaster. His eyes slid over the gun aimed at his chest as if it were a piece of furniture. She knew now was her chance. She could bolt for the window on the far side of the room while they were distracted. The fall from three stories would be rough, but she was more likely to survive it than a bolt of super-heated plasma passing through her brain.

Her eyes flicked toward the window and back to the stranger, who shook his head almost imperceptibly.

 _What?_

She felt her resolve weaken. Had he guessed her intentions? Was he telling her not to do it?

 _Why should I listen to him anyway? He's about to die._

"I didn't realize this room was already occupied," the newcomer said as he stepped across the threshold. For the first time Saerith saw that he was armed. A pair of swords hung from his hip and a blaster was attached to his thigh. A fact not lost on the man pointing the gun at him.

"Don't take another step,"

The pale man raised his hands casually in response to the threat.

"No need to get excited." He looked at Saerith and smiled. "My names Krae Svar."

He made it painfully clear he was speaking to her, and Saerith gaped at him.

 _Are you insane?_

"I-"

"Shut it! Both of you!"

The man stepped toward Krae, and Saerith got a good look at him the first time. He was big for a human, tall and muscular. Towering over the lanky Krae. He leveled his gun, preparing to take the shot. Krae winked at Saerith.

 _What?_

Krae exploded into motion, crossing the gap before his opponent could fire. He darted in close moving unbelievably fast, he swept the gun to the side, and struck with his free hand. As quickly as It had begun, it was over. An awful gargling noise and the hilt of a knife jutting out of the big man's throat.

Saerith jerked her head away, her eyes shut tight against the image. She'd seen people die before, too many in fact, but this had been too sudden and contrary to what she'd expected. She heard him hit the floor, still thrashing as he drowned in his own blood.

The mental image of it was almost too much, and Saerith felt the searing burn of bile rising in her throat. She clung to the last vestiges of her self-control and forced it back down. Doing her best to block out all sound without actually covering her ears.

She felt strong hands grab her by the shoulders and pull her up on her feet.

"There you go," Krae said. "Are you hurt?"

Saerith stared blankly into his gray eyes for a moment before her brain ground back into action.

"Just a couple scrapes and bruises." She answered, looking herself over. Krae looked passed her out the window, noting the fading light.

"Will you be alright from here?" Saerith nodded, though she was by no means sure. She just wanted to bolt out the door and run until she forgot this place. She would have if Krae hadn't been blocking the exit. Instead, Krae took her at her word and turned away, heading for the exit himself.

"Take care…" Krae smiled at her over his shoulder, it was a warm smile, the kind that promised anyone who saw it that they would like you. Saerith was fooled for only a second. The smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Saerith, my name is Saerith"

"Take care Saerith," and he was gone. She stood frozen, as the last few minutes flashed through her head. Saerith knew she was once more riding the whims of fate. She had lived through the hour, but was again at the mercy of anyone and everyone. eyes tight, not sure what to do next. She thought her future had been snatched away, and she lamented that she'd ever allowed herself to ever be put in that position. Now it had been handed back and she didn't mean to waste it.

Saerith came to a decision and quickly gathered up her belongings. She looked at her sword lying there on the ground. A weapon she couldn't use, a tool for killing, something she'd been given to defend herself and it had never even occurred to use it. After only a second's hesitation she snatched it up and ran out the door. Krae wasn't in the hall and Saerith felt panic swelling in her chest.

 _No, no, no_

she bolted down the stairs and made for the entrance. She burst forth from the deserted apartment on to an equally deserted path that ran through the entire deserted town.

Her panic ebbed as she saw Krae headed down the street. Saerith only briefly noted he had acquired a large pack as she chased after him. Krae heard her footsteps and turned to look. Once again, she was struck by his eyes. Focused intently on her, his eyes flicked to the sword in her hand and back to her face. He turned around to face her and Saerith stopped well away from him, not wanting to be perceived as a threat.

"I want to go with you." She'd only just met him, but she wouldn't have believed anything could really surprise him. However, the small frown that creased his forehead along with the raised eyebrow told her otherwise. Krae scratched his chin, as if giving it some thought.

"Why?"

 _Well that's better than no_

Saerith took a moment to collect her thoughts and tried desperately to arrange her words in the right order.

"I don't want to be afraid anymore".

 _Really; that's what you're going with here?_

Krae seemed as nonplussed as she would expect.

"That man would've killed me if you hadn't shown up. The next one will probably get the job done."

"Next one?"

"Anyone who decided to kill me next."

Krae shook his head.

"Do people try to kill you often?"

" it's more common lately."

"and you want me to be your bodyguard?"

Saerith flinched at that, but didn't give up.

"No, I want to be like you, that is, I want you to teach me to protect myself. I just don't want to be afraid anymore."

For the first time since they'd met she felt like Krae really looked at her, suddenly self-conscious as his eyes seemed to pierce her soul. As he weighed and measured everything she was on some internal scale she had no way of understanding.

"You don't know what you're asking for." He told her.

Saerith had been expecting that and she nodded her head.

"You're right. I don't but it can't be worse than what I've got now." Krae scratched his chin and walked toward her.

"Do you know how to use that?" he asked pointing at her sword.

"I... no, it was a gift from a friend." Krae nodded and held out his hand. Saerith gave him a blank look and after a few seconds he took pity on her and spoke.

"Give me the weapon." Saerith still not sure where this was going proffered up the blade. Krae took and unsheathed it. "This is military grade, Mandalorian, who is this friend of yours?" He asked, almost absent mindedly.

"Her name was Kiala."

"Was?"

Saerith looked at her feet. "She was killed on our last mission together."

"Well, she knew how to pick her killing tools." Krae tucked Saeriths sword into his own belt and she reached out for it reflexively. Krae froze the motion in place with a single glance. Was he stealing it?

 _So, what if he is? Nothing you can do to stop him, and you can't really complain after he saved your life._

Krae looked at her and Saerith let her hand fall to her side.

"So, you'll just let me have your weapon then?"

Saeriths gaze fell to the ground and she clenched her fists. Was this a test? Was she supposed to try and take it back?

"Why did you take it?" Saerith asked after several moments of contemplation. Krae laughed. Not a mean laugh, just as if he'd heard something unexpected and it amused him.

"That is a good question. Simple, you're not ready for it." He stepped forward and tapped her on the forehead. "let's get going."

Krae pulled the large pack from his shoulders and tossed it to her.

"So, you'll do it?"

Krae shrugged his shoulders.

"You seem determined. I'd like to see where that leads you. First lesson. You carry the pack."

He turned and walked away leaving Saerith to alternate between trying to follow him and get the pack on.

 _This damn thing's heavy_

She complained silently to herself. Saerith she shouldered the pack and fell in step with Krae, who grinned at her struggles; mocking her with his release from the burden.

"Where are we going?" Saerith asked. Already sweat was running off her and Krae stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Second lesson; never plan too far ahead."


	2. Chapter 2

The surface of Dantooine was covered in vast stretches of rolling plains. As the sun sank from the sky and the dark places reached forth, that vastness took on new meaning. Clouds hung heavy across the sky as if determined to cut Saerith off from her last comfort, denying her the large expanse of twinkling lights that filled the night sky.

The small ring of firelight was a sorry stand-in for the absent stars; however, this did not stop Saerith from sitting as close to it as possible. As the longest, darkest part of the night settled in she couldn't help but feel this was a stupid situation. A pair of idiots camped out on plains known far and wide for their vicious predators.

'When you say you don't plan ahead, you mean it,' Saerith thought as she rubbed her arms, doing what she could to coax away the goose bumps. She wasn't a fan of the dark; in fact, she didn't like this situation at all. Being caught out in the open by teeth and claws didn't play to her strengths, what few she had.

"How am I supposed to sleep out here?" She whispered across the fire at Krae. She thought he might have grinned though she couldn't be certain, as he was facing away from her.

"Why wouldn't you be able to?" he asked and Saerith scowled at the ground, not bothering to answer. 'Well if I'm going to get eaten out here, I'd like to see it coming at least. 'She thought impetuously. She couldn't deny she was a bit peeved at him for just plopping down in the open and calling it good enough. Her vaguely mutinous musings were one and all driven from her mind as the deep, bellowing howl of a Kath Hound shattered the silence.

"They've spotted the fire," Krae said quietly. Saerith stared out into the dark, fighting against the instinct to stand and bolt.

"Are they-" Saerith started to ask as her hand drifted to the blaster on her hip. The words died on her lips as another howl, closer this time, pierced the silence. Krae shrugged, or he did the best he could while lying on his side.

"They might move in closer to investigate," Krae started. "But most of this planet's wildlife is wary of fire. Grasslands like this are pretty susceptible to flash fires." His tone was mild and unconcerned. Saerith had seen a few fires since she'd arrived. They could spring up at the slightest provocation, like some irritable beast. Able to eat large swaths of Dantooine's plains at terrifying speeds, flash fires were nothing to laugh at. Saerith still didn't feel like any of this was much of a comfort; the only thing keeping the monsters at bay was the possibility they might all burn to death.

If she hadn't been expecting to hear it, she might've missed the sound of the grass rustling and dirt shifting as something approached. The sounds carried toward them from beyond the protective band of firelight. Saerith felt her heart begin to race as her eyes searched the darkness, attempting to discern the source of the noise. The small part of Saerith's mind not chocked by fear noted that despite the obvious danger, Krae had not even bothered to shift his place. Saerith was almost certain he was entirely unaware of the approaching sounds; at least until she noticed that he was holding one of his swords, his body blocking most of it from her view.

As the sounds of what were most likely teeth and claws grew louder, it seemed to have _finally_ moved beyond Krae's threshold for posing as nonchalant. With an almost liquid grace he rose from his place lying on the ground to one firm footed and square-shouldered. He faced the approaching threat head on.

Saerith was on the verge of entering into the realm of irrational fear and completely ready to start making poor decisions, when Krae's sudden transition from at ease to battle-ready grounded her a little more firmly. He looked quite fearsome to her in that moment. Parts of his angular face were cast in deep shadows while others were illuminated poorly by firelight. The shifting darkness created a stark contrast against his incredibly pale skin, lending him an immaterial quality that bespoke inexorability. It was as if he wasn't quite real, and because of that you couldn't hope to stop him. The long, slender and single-edged blade in his hand promised nothing but true death.

The perfect stillness that followed gave Saerith the impression that time was no longer passing. Only the pounding in her chest told her that its flow had not been interrupted. She looked hard at the place where she thought the encroaching animal might have stopped and imagined she could hear it breathing. With her head turned away from the fire, her eyes began to adjust to the dark and with growing horror; Saerith began to see the beast's outline.

It was a Kath hound; one of Dantooine's native pack hunters. Saerith had lived on the planet for some time and seen her fair share of the beasts, but this one was massive comparatively; at least it appeared to be. All the finer details were lost in the black of the night, leaving her only a vague silhouette by which to judge it.

Krae and the Kath hound faced one another in some silent battle of will, each waiting for the other to show some weakness. Tension hung thick in the air and Saerith sensed that any wrong move would set them off. That was when she became aware of other noises; quieter and softer, but much the same as before. More kath hounds were approaching them from behind; at least three, maybe more. It was a slight comfort that they all sounded considerably smaller than the monster standing before her.

The beasts branched out and circled just beyond the firelight. Saerith rose to her feet slowly, undoing the clasp on her holster as she did. The faintest bit of growling accompanied the movement. Apparently these kath hounds were familiar with what came after a blaster was drawn.

"You won't need that," Krae told her without looking. "The big one knows what'll happen if this turns into a fight. This is just the show at the fence." Saerith wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but she left her gun in its holster and waited as the pack circled them a few more times. Eventually the larger kath hound howled out a deep, almost sorrowful, note and just like that they vanished once more into the darkness. Krae stood his ground for a moment longer before turning to face her.

Saeirth remained standing, hand still lingering near her pistol. She knew Krae was watching her but she couldn't help but continue scanning the darkness, imagining at any moment she'd have to draw her blaster and fire. That she'd be too slow. She could almost feel that giant Kath hounds teeth at her throat.

"Sit," Krae's voice broke through her rising anxiety. She found herself sitting before she even really processed that he'd been speaking to her. "Are you really that afraid?" he asked casually, arms crossed over his chest.

"Yes!" Saerith hissed at him. "I am _that_ afraid, because _you_ -" She jabbed a finger at him and continued. "-camped us in one of the worst places imaginable. " Krae's laughter broke over her rant before it could really pick up steam, but the mirth didn't reach his eyes, which had taken on a hard look that chilled Saerith more deeply than any number of giant Kath hounds could have.

"If this is the worst place you can imagine for a camping trip, you've lead a pretty cushy life," Krae said tauntingly. Saerith felt the flash in her chest as anger stirred and roared to life.

"How dare you," she growled at him, gritting her teeth. "You don't know anything about me!"

"I know enough, you're scared, helpless, and weak-willed. What are you even doing out here?" He mocked her. "Why don't you quit playing adventurer and run back to your family."

All of her building rage melted in an instant. Something about the way he was looking at her and the words he was speaking didn't match up; it was like all the parts didn't fit together. He was testing her. She took a deep breath through her mouth and exhaled it slowly through her nose.

"I was captured by slavers as a child. I haven't seen my family for a very long time." She told him evenly. Krae remained silent, but she said no more. He didn't deserve to know any more than that.

"Not so cushy then," he said, semi-apologetically, clearly aware his ruse had been discovered. "I hope you don't think I'm heartless, but I needed to see what you'd do when you're angry. You managed to follow my orders in a timely fashion when those beasts had you terrified, but most people lose all ability to think tactically when they're angry. It's even worse if their anger is easily provoked." He leaned back a bit, keeping his legs crossed.

"If I'm going to prepare you for combat, it's important that I know how you react in stressful situations, and the first reaction to danger is important. If it's a bad reaction, it'll be hard to overcome, even with training."

Saerith didn't respond. Her anger hadn't dissipated so much as cooled. What he was telling her made sense but her pride was stubbornly refusing to ignore his slighting comments. Silence settled over them. Krae waiting patiently for Saerith to stop acting like a petulant child. She sorted through the night's events, her finger tracing absent-mindedly over the multitude of tattoos etched into her arms.

"You're young Saerith. At least, you're barley an adult by my standards. I don't know what your people would consider young, but I'm not going to make exceptions for your inexperience. I need to know you can keep your head in the game when our lives are on the line." Krae touched his chin and stared hard at her before continuing. "You've got some decent instincts. You know to listen and you didn't let your anger overwhelm you. That saves us some time, but I'm going to need you to fully conquer your emotions." Saerith laughed internally at that. She was pretty sure she'd never be fearless.

"I-"Krae his hand to cut her off as Saerith started to protest.

"It's alright to be afraid." Krae added, "But, you can't let fear make your decisions… the same is true for anger or compassion." He pointed at her. "You need to use your head, always. You need to reconcile yourself to hard truths. You need to focus on getting done what needs done, if you can't find something worth more to you than your own life. All you'll ever be able to do is survive and surviving is just a delaying tactic, a retreat from death in a battle where you have only so much ground to give."

All the words tumbled around in Saerith's head. He wasn't speaking zealously or with fervor, merely explaining. She could almost see him at the head of a classroom, telling a bunch of students the same thing.

"I don't expect you to understand it all at once, but think on what I've said. Get some sleep. Your training begins tomorrow and you'll be sorry if you don't get any rest now," he concluded.

"How am I supposed to sleep after all…?" Saerith trailed off, waving her hand around to indicate the area the kath hounds had recently inhabited. Krae shrugged before answering apathetically.

"That's on you. I can tell you that nothing more will happen, but it's down to you to accept that it's the truth and get some rest." 

Saerith knew it wouldn't be that easy. She couldn't think of too many reasons to take his word on anything, apart from him randomly saving her life.

"Quiet your mind," he scolded her. "There will be time to question everything I say tomorrow." With that, Krae lay down, stretched out and closed his eyes.

"Aren't you supposed to be keeping watch?" Saerith questioned.

"All I said was that nothing would happen. I didn't say I was going to babysit you."

Saerith scowled at the ground. 'Guess that means I'm keeping watch.' She lamented silently as she settled in for a long night.


	3. Chapter 3

While it wasn't quite the longest night of her life, that wasn't saying much. Saerith had been a slave for years and been on the run for even longer. All in all she'd had some pretty long nights. Despite that, it turned out Krae had been right; she should have gotten some rest. When morning did finally arrive and they set off, Saerith was already dead on her feet. Her unrested condition was driven home even further by the fact she still had to carry Krae's heavy pack. He had no sympathy for her lack of sleep and set a merciless pace from the moment they left camp.

Saerith couldn't recall Dantooine having a particularly arid climate, but today the sun was as unforgiving as her mentor. She struggled along for what felt like an eternity, sweat beading all across her body. At first she'd been determined to endure all of it with a dignified silence. Shortly afterwards, she didn't feel the least bit dignified, but couldn't spare the energy required to complain; not that there was anyone to complain to. Krae was well out of ear shot and not getting any closer as she lagged behind, unable to match his pace.

'I should probably just be happy I'm still alive enough to feel like death.' She thought half-heartedly, trying to encourage herself. It was not lost on Saerith that 'It's better than being dead,' didn't bode well. Somewhere between that thought and the next she realized her vision had begun to black out. A combination of the heat, exertion, and her exhaustion had finally caught up with her.

Saerith forced herself to take a step despite being fairly certain she was about to collapse. Her foot didn't make contact with ground after the expected amount of time and a strange rushing liquid sensation in her ears made her think she might be falling.

 _Wham!_

'Yep' she thought, face down in the dirt. 'I was definitely falling.' The weight of the pack lifted from her shoulders and she heard Krae's voice.

"No naps today, Saerith."

'Freakin' nerf herdin' poodoo eatin—' Saerith raged silently. He sure had gotten to her awfully quickly after she'd fallen. 'I bet he could have caught me and didn't.'  
Saerith levered herself up on one knee as her vision came back into focus.

"Hey you wanna help me—" she started to say, but stopped when she realized Krae was already walking away. 'What is this guy's deal?' she wondered. "How about a break?" she shouted after him. "I'm pretty sure if I have to walk much more I'm going to die!" Krae situated the pack a little more comfortably. 

"Then die."

Whatever exhaustion she was feeling was instantly burned away by anger. Saerith pushed herself to her feet and started after him. A part of her mind knew that was the point; Krae was motivating her in some weird, manipulative sort of way. That being said, the rest of her didn't care. She wanted to rage at him, but somehow that felt like conceding defeat.  
Instead she asked, "So where are we going?" She tried and somewhat succeeded at keeping her tone even and casual. His slight smile told her that she wasn't fooling anyone, but he answered her; his tone equally casual.

"My ship, I ran the blockade in orbit. Took some damage and was forced to land way out here." Saerith perked up slightly at the sound of this. 'So he plans on leaving Dantooine?'

"Did you get parts for your ship then?" She asked and Krae shook his head.

"No, that's not why I came here." Saerith was baffled. Who would wander away from their broken ship for anything but parts? More to the point, who would return to said broken ship after not acquiring parts at all? Krae seemed to guess at her train of thought.

"I can patch a hole and do some basic maintenance, but I'm no mechanic." He informed her. Saerith couldn't hide her grin.

"Then today is your lucky day. I happen to be a mechanic." Krae looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at her.

"A ship mechanic?" he inquired.

"More of an all-around mechanic who works on ships most frequently, because those jobs pay the best. But if it has moving parts, I can probably fix it." Krae laughed a little.

"I knew there was something about you that I liked. Alright, let's get moving."

They made better progress after that, Krae seemed to be entirely unhindered by the pack and Saerith; now relieved of it as a burden, was able to keep up without too much trouble. Saerith hadn't really given the previous day much thought. This was probably a telling sign. The first time someone had tried to kill her; it haunted her for weeks: the sights, the sounds, and the terror. None of it would fade from her mind.

Yesterday she'd been facing a point-blank execution and she hadn't revisited the memories of it at all. Though now that she had stopped to think of it, there was something that stood out.

"What were you doing in that building?" She asked Krae.

"What?" he asked in his response, his tone nonplussed. "In that apartment building, where you found me. What were you doing there?"

Krae shrugged. "Honestly?"

'Why do people ask that?' Saerith wondered as she side stepped a bush known for its sharp leaves. 'Of course honestly!'

"It seemed the most likely place to find people. That settlement wasn't abandoned the last time I came through. Was trying to find out where they went."

Saerith shook her head but didn't respond. Many of the smaller settlements had vanished since the Sith occupation began. Sometimes there were signs of struggles, sometimes not. Saerith had joined a grass roots rebellion to fight back against the Sith. She was no expert on such things, but the whole endeavor had been sloppy and disorganized in her opinion. It was a wonder they weren't all dead yet. 

"So it's the war," Krae said knowingly into the silence. "I've seen more than a few places like that in my line of work. People will move in again once everything settles down. They always do." 

"What is your line of work?" Saerith asked, suddenly curious what someone like Krae did. 

"Currently I'm unemployed. I was speaking of past experience." He answered evasively.

"What was your line of work before you were unemployed?" She carried on doggedly.

"Do you want to know about all of it or just most recently?" He asked, his grin letting her know he wasn't going to make this easy. Saerith stared at the ground, watching her feet and scowling deeply. He was certainly clever. With how evasive he was being she'd likely have to sit through his life story to find out what he actually did. 

"Not far now," Krae said suddenly, totally derailing her train of thought. Saerith looked around and saw nothing but the same stretches of yellow grassland broken up by islands of stone jutting two stories up from the ground, and grass of a healthier looking green variety growing atop those.

"I don't—" She started to say. 

"Trust me," he interrupted. "We're close." 

" _Not far now"_ turned out to be another three hours of walking, and Saerith began to suspect they were nowhere near the ship—and that Krae had only said it to throw her off asking about his past. Now that she'd stopped asking, Saerith couldn't find a way to reopen the subject without seeming nosey. When they finally arrived at his ship, Saerith found herself in awe. She was expecting a personal vessel and instead was presented with something military grade, and highly specialized. Saerith knew most makes and models for civilian and military vessels used in Republic space. She'd even seen some specialized vessels during her education on Coruscant…but this bore no resemblance to any Republic craft she'd ever seen. On a purely aesthetic level the ship was sleek and deadly looking. A fact made even stranger by the lack of visible weaponry.

Without even thinking to ask, Saerith made her way around the side of the ship, determined to look it over. As she made her first pass she noted the black emblem painted on its side, an elongated skull with some horns sticking out of the side and curving down. She'd seen it before on mercenary vessels and armor, though it had been years. It was the emblem of the Mandalorians. Saerith didn't know much about them, other than the ones she'd met seemed like a bunch of thugs. The only thing she thought was noteworthy enough to remember was, despite the fact they seemed like your common muscle, most gave Mandalorians a wide berth.

"She's called The Specter," Krae said as Saerith walked around the ship.

"What's her designation?" Saerith asked as she inspected some plasma scarring on the lower part of the hull.

"Hell, if I remember," Krae answered. Saerith almost sneered at that.

You know anything about her besides her name? Like who made her, and what roles she's designed for?" Saerith asked, trying to keep the condescension out of her tone. It was, in her opinion, a grave offense to own a ship and know nothing about it.

"Oh, she's a prototype Mandalorian vessel. The only one of her kind. My understanding is the concept wasn't cost effective." Krae paused here and ran his hands through his long raven colored hair, clearly contemplating something.

'Probably not sure how much to tell me' Saerith thought. Krae meandered around to the nose of the vessel and looked the ship up and down before continuing.

"Its initial purpose is the transport and deployment of special operators into hostile territory. It's also equipped to be used as a base by commandos during long term assignments outside of Mandalorian space. Nowadays I mostly just live here."  
Now that didn't add up. Saerith had never heard of mercenaries being in the business of designing and producing ships, let alone vessels of this caliber. Not to mention Krae made it sound like these guys held territory and had some sort of government structure.

"So are you one of these commandos then?" Saerith asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"Was once," was all he said, and when nothing else was forthcoming, Saerith resumed looking at the ship. She'd already learned what she could without taking things apart or accessing the ship's computer. There was some minor hull damage but no breaches.

"So what's the diagnosis, Doc?" Krae asked as he set down his pack and started digging through its contents.

"Won't be able to say for sure until I get chance to look inside but none of the damage I can see here will keep her on the ground—" her stomach interrupted loudly with an assortment of burbling noises, apparently tired of being ignored. "—and do you have any food? I feel like it's been years since I've eaten." Saerith informed him. Krae nodded his head without looking up from his bag and replied,

"I could do with a meal myself. As for taking a look inside, have at it. You can't break her any more than she's already been broke."

'Not really true,' Saerith thought. Krae pulled a small device; some sort of control pad, from his pack and tapped a few buttons. At the back of the ship a combination door and ramp came free, forming a short walkway up into the vessel. Saerith stared at the opening long and hard, the promise of food suddenly forgotten as she realized what going onboard meant; she'd be turning her back on everything that was happening here on Dantooine. It was something Saerith had been trying hard not to think about. She'd be leaving all her friends at the compound to continue their losing war without her, the ones who were still alive.

'That's why you have to go' she told herself, she couldn't watch any more of them die. Truth was she'd already abandoned them. She had slipped out in the dead of night with no intentions of returning. This was just the real and final point of no return.

Saerith steeled her heart against itself, forced the memories of her friends and the danger they faced from her mind and climbed onboard the Specter. 


	4. Chapter 4

For a moment, Saerith was rendered blind while her eyes adjusted to the ship's relatively dim interior. She closed her eyes, since they weren't really doing her any good for the moment, and just let the rest of her senses wander the ship. The tang of metal pervaded her nose and she heard the subtle creaks and pops as the weight of the vessel ever so slowly continued to settle into the soft dirt beneath.

A feeling of giddy contentment swelled in her chest. Ships had always felt safe to her in a way solid ground never had. For as long as she could remember, dirt under her feet was the precursor to trouble. As her senses wandered freely she was suddenly brought back to herself by the realization that Krae was still standing behind her, and that she blocked the entryway. Starting a little, Saerith moved forward quickly into, what she realized, was the ship's galley.

"Do you have a diagnostics interface?" She asked more to cover how she'd spaced than because she needed to know. Krae moved up beside her and gestured vaguely down one of the hallways that lead out of the little galley, and deeper into the ship.

"Something in the cockpit started beeping when I got shot at- hasn't stopped since. I suspect that's what you're looking for." Without further prompting, Saerith headed off deeper into the ship. Now that her eyes had adjusted, she noted to herself that the ship was very well designed; spatial logistics were nearly flawless. The ship's size versus available space was almost unheard of.

After meandering through the ship for a bit she did, eventually, find her way to the cockpit. She was surprised to find the vessel setup for a pilot and a co-pilot. It was highly unusual on anything smaller than a freighter. It only took a moment to find what she was looking for, the little flashing light on the console serving as a guide. Saerith settled herself into the pilot's seat and swiveled it slightly.

"Alright," she whispered to the screen, "tell me where it hurts." Her hands danced over the console, and three-dimensional grid models of the ship flashed passed in rapid succession, her dark green eyes scanning through each of them. After a few short moments of this, she let out a relieved sigh.

"So what's the damage?"

Had Saerith not been so engaged by her work, she would've jumped at Krae's sudden appearance. Instead, she continued to skim through the diagnostics, her admiration for the people who engineered the ship growing steadily.

"Power conduit," Saerith responded absent-mindedly. "I'm gonna have to crawl around a bit, but I think I'll just have to remove the damaged parts and reattach the severed sections. If you have any sleeves on board it'll be a quick fix. If not, I'll need a plasma cutter and it'll take a little longer." A few moments passed before Saerith realized Krae hadn't answered. She looked back over her shoulder and found him staring at her, a bemused look on his face. Saerith sighed mentally and came to his rescue.

"Do you have any tools?"

"Yeah, I have a small kit on board. I'll show you where I keep it." Krae headed out of the cockpit as Saerith turned back to the interface long enough to cut the power conduit off from the main and backup power supplies before following him. It would be no good if she tried to work on the cables while they were hot.

The ship had been damaged enough that many of the supplies in the kit were depleted and apparently Krae had never thought to restock them. The plasma torch itself was broken and there were no cable sleeves. Krae didn't have any clue what they were, even. Saerith covered her face with her palm for a moment.

"I need supplies," she stated flatly. Krae shrugged.

"We've got time. Where do you have to go?" Saerith scratched her chin as she thought it over and weighed her options. There weren't many.

"I know a guy. He'll bring what we need if we ask nicely." She said. Krae looked as if he meant to object, but Saerith cut him off. "It's alright. He's a friend, and I probably shouldn't leave without him anyway." Rather than easing his mind, Krae only looked more displeased.

"Look, I can't afford to bring extra people with us."

"Oh, that's alright," Saerith argued cheerfully, "He's not a person."

Now he looked utterly bewildered and Saerith laughed as she fished a comm out of her pocket. Saerith fiddled with it a moment before pressing the send and holding it up to her face.

"Hax, are you on this channel?" The response was almost immediate.

"Saerith? Is that you?" She found herself grinning. You almost couldn't hear the undertones of his synthetic vocals out of the communicator.

"Yeah, it's me. I don't have a lot of time. Can you scramble this channel?" She asked.

"Already did," he answered, "What's going on? Why are you hiding from the Front? Everyone's been pretty worried about you here."

Saerith knew this was coming, and she didn't really want to get into it, least of all with Krae standing over her. "I already said I don't have a lot of time. I can't come back Hax. They're just gonna have to get by without me."

"And what about me?" He retorted. "You expecting me to just get by too?"

Saerith sighed and decided this was going to take too long if she let the droid keep directing the conversation.

"Shut up—I need your help."

"Why should I help anyone who talks to me like that?"

"Because that's what you're built to do?"

"I'm built to do a lot of things Saer."

'Damn it, why are things always so difficult with him?' She lamented to herself. She glanced over her shoulder at Krae and smiled nervously before turning away to speak into the comm.

"Are you going to help me or not? If not, then I don't see much point in continuing this conversation."

There was a moment of silence that left Saerith on the verge of breaking her comm in frustration.

"What do you need?" He finally responded, his tone bitter.

'Much better' Saerith though, reveling briefly in her victory.

"Right, I need you to steal a plasma cutter and some cable sleeves, and bring them to me," She told him, bouncing somewhat anxiously from one foot to the other as she contemplated the possible ramifications of stealing from the Front.

"How am I supposed to carry all that?" He asked, and Saerith was thankful he wasn't in the mood to question her morality. "And why should I go through all the trouble?" He added.

'If anyone else had a droid who talked like that, they'd slag them and buy a new one.' She thought, positive she could feel Krae's disapproval from where she stood.

"Because I'm asking you to," She answered and after a moment of further contemplation, "and steal some transport." No doubt he'd already figured out ten different ways to accomplish the task, but he wasn't going to help her along or take the initiative himself.

"Oh, would you like me to bring the ATC?"

"No!" Saerith practically shouted in sudden alarm. Envisioning in her mind's eye the damage her droid would do, joy riding across Dantooine's surface in a tank. She glanced back at Krae and found him staring at her, one eyebrow raised and his hands folded over his chest. "Uh, just use my—their speeder." She hurried on as she looked away. All the while wishing she had a droid who behaved better.

"Roger that," He answered, his tone a little forlorn, which only served to make Saerith feel that not letting him drive a tank was the right decision.

"Where am I going exactly?" He asked. Saerith couldn't help her scoff. She didn't believe it for a second.

"Oh please, if you haven't already traced the signal than I'll eat this broken plasma torch," She said, waving the useless piece of equipment around to emphasize her point, even though he couldn't see.

"You know me so well."

"Make it quick Hax. We won't have a lot of time once the Front realizes the speeder is gone. Over and out."

"Love you too," The droid answered, his tone full of derision before Saerith turned off her communicator. She pinched the bridge of her nose, not daring to look at Krae. After a few seconds of thought, Saerith dropped the comm on the ship's floor and crushed it underneath the heel of her boot. Hax already had the coordinates logged and wouldn't need its signal. Anyone else trying to find them would be stumped, at least for now.

"Alright," She addressed Krae, "the parts are on their way."

"Your droid seems to be..." Saerith noted the apprehension in his voice and grinned sheepishly.

"He's one of a kind, that's for sure," She stated, encouragingly. Krae frowned at that, and her smile grew bigger. She hadn't purchased the droid, she'd found him. At one point, she had the sneaking suspicion someone had given him to her, but there was no way to be sure. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding their meeting, and the droid's generally brusque attitude, she was glad for it. He had been a good and loyal friend from the moment she'd met him. If he wasn't always nice... that was something she'd grown to accept about him.

Quite suddenly the frown on Krae's face was replaced with a mild grin as he spoke,

"I suppose having a droid along won't be so bad. So long as he's not a big one." Saerith opened her mouth to assure him that Hax was quite small, but Krae didn't stop talking. "And since we have time, we should get some training in." The grin on his face turned almost fiendish as Saerith's expression must have betrayed her desire to do anything but.

"Alright," She said, trying to keep her tone cheerful. "Let's not overdo it, though. I've still got work to do when Hax gets here with the parts, and it'll have to be quick when it happens. The Front won't waste any time coming after that speeder." Krae waved his hand in a dismissive gesture and asked,

"Who is this Front exactly?"

"Homegrown rebellion against this Sith occupation. Dantooine Independence Front. The Front for short."

"Ah," Was Krae's only response as they descended the ramp out of the ship. He moved into a stance and told Saerith to imitate him. Saerith did to the best of her ability though she found it suddenly hard to keep her balance. 'Probably because I'm thinking about it,' Saerith whined mentally as she shuffled her feet again, trying not to fall over.

Krae gestured for Saerith to raise her hands and as she did he reached out and snatched her arm, yanking her forward. The world turned into a blur of colors and shifting momentum. Her brief flight through the fourth dimension ended with a heavy impact. She lay on the ground, looking up at the sky. Krae leaned over her, grinning.

"What was that supposed to teach me?" Saerith asked as soon as her breath returned.

"Some first-hand experience on what happens when you fail. Now you know what's at stake, you've been put into a vulnerable position." Krae offered her a hand and pulled her to her feet. "Alright, take up the stance again." Saerith brushed some dirt off herself but refused to reach and touch the sorer spots on her back. She didn't want to appear soft.

She mirrored Krae's stance, and again his hand snapped out, grabbing her wrist. Instead of flipping her through the air this time, he slowly walked her through the process of breaking his grip on her hand. At the same time, he showed where and how to move to make it harder for him to gain control of her body. They practiced the maneuver several times, slowly working up speed until Krae suddenly flipped her once more.

"It's gonna happen every time you move too slow."

'Great, so the only thing I might learn is how to take a fall,' Saerith lamented silently, but on the next try, she broke his grip before he could yank her off her feet.

"Good, so you can do it," Krae gave her a look that dared her to repeat the feat, and Saerith suspected it would prove much harder the next time. Luckily she was saved from having to find out—a beeping began to emanate from inside Krae's pack which he'd left sitting next to the ramp. He strolled casually over to the pack and dug out the control pad for the ship.

"One contact on long range sensors," he informed her, "hopefully it's your friend."


	5. Chapter 5

Saerith sat in the dirt and nodded, glad for the excuse not to persist. It wasn't long before she heard the telltale hum of her Grayback Speeder. It was a shame she'd signed it over to the Front. She'd restored the thing herself. It had been nothing but rusting metal when she had found it.

Hax arrived within seconds, clinging to the nose of the speeder, apparently able to drive the vehicle remotely, which was good since he was too small to operate the vehicle normally.

"No time for long hello's," He chattered, as he leapt from the speeder before it had even stopped completely and scurried across the ground towards her. His small, quadrupedal chassis, reminiscent of a reptile, made him a bit unnerving to be around at first. Most droids simply weren't built that way. "I did what I could to keep from being traced, but that girl Code is good, she'll get through eventually" Saerith conjured up a mental image of the tomboyish young woman that the Front employed as their slicer.

"That's alright. I was expecting this," Saerith told him. She was confident she could get the ship flying again before it became a problem. Code was a damn good slicer but Saerith was a damn good mechanic.

She grabbed the equipment out of the speeder's storage compartment and made for the service panel under the right engine. Hax returned to the speeder and began digging the through the onboard toolbox, skittering over and dropping the tools he knew she'd need. She made quick work of cutting off the damaged sections of cable. She even made Krae stop standing around looking lost and instead help her by pulling the cables closer together. That way she could reattach the ends before wrapping a sleeve around the welded section.

"Saerith, they broke my firewall and they have a read on the Grayback's location," Hax called over to her as she worked. Saerith ignored him. If they all wanted to be gone before the Front got here then she didn't need the distractions.

The work took longer than she would've liked, though she also suspected it was the fastest cable patch job of all time. 'And probably the sloppiest,' She lamented slightly. She was sure that the cable would hold up, at least for a while.

"Alright, that'll have to do. Wish we had time to patch the hull. If we take a direct hit over that cable it'll punch right through to the ships interior," she informed Krae. It wasn't the possibility of the ship and everyone in it being turned into a ball of slag, or even the explosive decompression that bothered Saerith; at least, not so much as simply leaving a job half-finished.

Saerith ran back up to the cockpit and started bringing the systems online, though it took a little longer than it should have. The ship's internal sensors didn't like how the power fluctuated more broadly in the repaired cable, which activated some sort of failsafe. Luckily, Hax was able to override the strange safety protocol and bring the engines back onto the ships power grid.

"Krae, systems nominal!" She shouted back down the hall, only realizing as she turned her head while uttering the last syllable that Krae was already there.

"Do you want to bring that speeder along?" He asked, stepping casually into the cockpit, as if the impending arrival of the Front didn't bother him at all.

'Well, I suppose it's not him they're going to shoot in the face, is it?' She thought desolately.

"No," she answered aloud. "I signed it over to them. It's their property. I just needed to borrow it for a minute."

"Too bad. It's a fine piece, but if you don't want it then we're good to go. Everything else is loaded up. Can you fly this thing?" he asked her, pointing at the controls. Saerith looked them over. Some stuff was shuffled around and it had a great many more buttons than commercials ships did, but–

"Yeah, no problem," She told him.

"Alright, then have at it. I'll be in my bunk." with that he turned around and left her alone. Looking around, Saerith began to feel overwhelmed; she'd at least expected him to take the co-pilot's seat. Interrupting her slight panic, a screen near the flight controls beeped and Hax's voice echoed from down the hall.

"Six contacts on ship sensors, approaching quickly."

"Ahhh." Saerith sounded in frustration, as she jumped over to the pilot's seat and began powering up the ship. She hit a comm button and tuned it to Hax's personal frequency before opening the channel. "Shutting the door Hax; you better be inside."

"You're such a tease," His voice crackled back and Saerith felt the urge to punch Xander right in his smug, prick face. No doubt in her mind this had been his influence. From the outrageously gorgeous pink empath, it'd been kind of funny. The jokes had lost most of their humor however, once her droid had started to imitate them, and it hadn't been remotely funny since Xander died.

"Hax!" She barked into the microphone, making it clear she was in no mood.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm inside, interfacing with the ship now; just give me one second." Saerith checked her flight sequence and then double checked. It would do no good to have them falling out of the air. With that done, she powered up the ship's engine, and within moments she felt the tons of Durasteel come to life as the controls in her hands began to respond.

She heaved back on the yoke and felt the ship begin vibrating as the engines fought to wrest control of the metal mass from the planet's gravitational pull. It didn't take long, and they began to lift away from the ground.

"Whoa, Saerith, you gotta look at this thing," Hax's voice crackled at her through the comm.

"Not now," she said through gritted teeth. Her eyes alternated between looking at her instruments and watching those six little green dots approach. She doubted they'd have brought anything with them that'd be able to disable the ship. The Front didn't have a lot of heavy weaponry at their disposal and it was unlikely they'd risk bringing any of it on what should be a simple retrieval mission. Still, Dean, the Fronts leader, was unpredictable at the best of times. It was better for everyone if she got well away from here before they arrived.

Saerith had never flown this ship or anything like it before and was fully unprepared for how quickly they gained elevation once the engines got rolling. Quite suddenly, the ground was a kilometer distant, and those little green dots were just lights on her console.

"Ha-ha!" She laughed into the mic and started preparing for the transition out of the atmosphere.

"I suppose now would be a good time to remind you that this planet is under blockade."

"Ha-"

"Unidentified Vessel. You are ordered to land at-" An unfamiliar and official sounding voice interrupted their connection before Saerith quickly cut the communication. She pushed the ship up to full power as they broke through the atmosphere.

"Hax, what do we got for them?"

"As I was trying to tell you, before you so rudely cut me off—"

"Hax!"

"Relax. They haven't even started tracking us— scratch that. I suggest you take evasive action."

"What?!" Saerith panicked. She wasn't a bad pilot. In fact, she was a rather good pilot; but she'd never tried to run a blockade before, and had never really planned for the event. She gradually changed their trajectory at random intervals moving to the left and then over to the right.

"That's not going to be good enough," She heard Hax mumble over the mic.

"What do you suggest then?!"

"Uh…do a barrel roll?"

"Oh Force, if we get out of this alive I'm going to disassemble you into singular parts and reduce all of them-"

"They're locked on to us; we're going to be a hunk of molten debris unless you have some better tricks."

"Damn right I do!" Saerith gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the controls. "Hold on to your butts." She whispered, just before sending the ship spiraling through a dizzying series of maneuvers, trying to shake the lock of the turbo-lasers. A beeping sound told her the first rounds had been discharged in their direction, so she spun the ship wildly, hoping against hope to get clear of the bolts.

"Alright," She heard her droid's voice as though it were at a great distance. "Here we go." A shiver ran through the ship and they accelerated forward at an incredible rate for the barest instant. Saerith felt panic rise in her chest, positive her patch job on the cable was coming apart.

"Guess it works in short intervals. Some sort of overclock for the engines," Hax rambled on.

"Don't do that!" She practically shrieked into her mic as she twirled the ship just in time to evade a bolt that would have sheared clean through the cockpit.

"This ships actually designed to run blockades, among other things, but a lot of those systems have never even been activated. I'm actually installing software for the damn things! Can you imagine?" He said distractedly, as if they were in no immediate danger.

Saerith's monitors were filling with Sith cruisers firing round after round at them. Every ache and bruise from her training and all the travelling she'd done this week was long forgotten. She continued to move the ship through rapid, unpredictable turns and loops.

"Haaax!" She shouted in a mix of frustration and panic as he continued to babble on about something or other. The first capital class ship had just turned up on her sensors with guns big enough to slag the entire ship in one salvo.

"Oh hey, emission sinks. That'll throw those targeting computers for a loop! Engaging them now." Just like that, the hail of red death stopped. "Autonomous systems now thoroughly confused! Take that!" Saeriths chest was heaving and sweat ran off her in rivulets. Her body struggled to reassess the amount of danger it was currently in she just wasn't quite ready to share in her droid's excitement.

'We need to make a jump,' she reminded herself. That was the goal here. The entire point of running the blockade was to get away from it.

"New problem," She heard Hax say, though she didn't have to ask what it was. If they'd had the emission sinks engaged from the start they might have been too far gone for the Sith to launch interceptors. As it was— "We've got incoming."

Saerith banked hard to the right as the little dots indicating the interceptors turned up on her instruments, trying to put as much distance between her and them as she could. 'No good, they'll be on us in seconds,' She thought hopelessly.

"Hax, we need to jump," She said out loud.

"Not quite yet, stay on course for about thirty seconds and we'll be able to."

"You want me to fly in a straight line? "

"It's alright. Another one of her tricks is online. Long range d-"

"Use it!" Saerith shouted, as if she could already feel the super-heated rounds burning through their hull.

"Alright, their instruments are scrambled. They're down to the Eyeball Mark I for a bit; pretty much useless over these distances." The next thirty seconds were the longest of her life, and Saerith couldn't take her eyes off the monitors that showed the Specters sensor readouts. It felt like an eternity but finally Hax called it up to her.

"Jump trajectory locked in; engage hyperdrive in: three, two, now!" At the droid's command, Saerith pushed the lever forward. The stars turned into long streaks of light and she collapsed back in her seat, shaking all over.

"Good work," She practically jumped out of her seat as Krae spoke from the cockpit's doorway. "That little droid of yours sure is something."

"Why thank you," Hax's voice came blaring out of the intercom.

"Wasn't sure you'd be able to run it, but you two are quite the team. Some pretty impressive piloting if I do say so." Saerith was briefly warmed by his praise, but as things began to link up in her head she found herself feeling a whole new emotion: anger.

"How is it this ship was made to run blockades and none of the systems we needed for it were active?" She directed to the gray eyed man. Krae laughed a little guiltily and scratched his head.

"Yeah, well... I don't know that much about it really, and apart from going to Dantooine in the first place that's only the second time she's ever actually run a blockade." Saerith gave him the most unimpressed look she could force onto her face. He even had the courtesy to seem cowed by her unyielding stare. Finally, she let him off the hook and turned away. They had gotten away safe and sound after all.

'And what? You'd give him a real tongue lashing if you were all dead?' she thought to herself.

"Hax, where are we headed?" She asked, mostly to distract herself.

"We'll come out near a shipping hub in the mid rim." Saerith sank back in her seat. So this was it. She was away from Dantooine. Clear of those Sith and nothing to worry about for a good while.

"Is there a bed I can use?" She asked. Sleep was what she needed now. The exhaustion she'd been holding at bay for days had finally taken its toll.

"You sure you don't want to do a little bit of training?" Krae asked, his tone teasing. Saerith glowered at him and the silence stretched between them. Krae finally let the joke go and waved her to follow him.

The ship had fairly nice accommodations. Krae led the way to a room that was modest and military, outfitted with multiple bunks, though none of them seemed to be in use. The beds looked soft enough, and the space was just large enough to be cozy. Once he'd left her alone, Saerith shut the door and fell into bed, briefly contemplating the past week. She tried not to worry too much about what they were going to do when they arrived at the shipping hub. It was Krae's ship after all, and he'd say where it went. With that last thought, freeing her of future responsibility, Saerith sank into a deep sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Saerith had no way of knowing how long she'd slept. When she awoke she was pretty sure she'd actually died in that blockade run, or perhaps at some point during the week prior. There was absolutely no way her body could hurt this bad and still be alive. She lay there for what felt like hours before she finally worked up the nerve to sit up and swing her legs over the edge of the bed. It was an ordeal. Still, there was no getting around it. After a few more minutes she managed to get on her feet.

'Alright, now for the tricky bit... walking.'

The young Twi'lek took a few shaky steps around her room before pausing a moment to enjoy the sweet agony of stretching. A little while later she found the pain had become more of an incessant irritation than an infirmity. Satisfied she wasn't going to fall to pieces, her stomach chose that moment to protest loudly at how long she was taking to get going. She got undressed and took a quick shower, after which she pulled her second set of clothing out of her bag.

Feeling nearly alive again Saerith took a moment to look beyond the present. She cringed slightly at the thought of Krae's persistence in her training right now because her body probably couldn't take that kind of abuse. It wasn't that she wouldn't do it. She'd made a deal after all. Taking a deep breath to steel herself for what lay ahead, she left her room and wandered the ship until she found what appeared to be a large dining area. She guessed that under normal circumstances it would have contained several long tables but at present only one perfectly circular table sat in the middle of the room. Hax was curled up in the center of the table, probably the exact center knowing him, with his visor down as if he were sleeping. Saerith knew better.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm so bored!" He moaned at her without changing his position or opening his visor. "There's no extranet in hyperspace. What am I supposed to do?"

"How's the ship?" Saerith asked, pointedly not indulging his self-pity.

"Got all her systems up and running forever ago," he answered, his tone melancholy.

"How much longer until we arrive?" A few seconds of silence and he answered,

"About three hours."

Saerith nearly dropped her food. "How long was I asleep? Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You don't think I tried? I was pretty sure your vitals were an error and you were actually dead." Saerith flopped down in one of the seats around the table. No wonder she was so sore. It wasn't right, sleeping for so long.

"Oh, so she's alive after all," Krae spoke, with laughter in his voice, as he entered the room and sat down next to Saerith. He seemed to smile a lot, but she had yet to see one that touched his eyes. She must have been studying his face close enough for him to take notice because his smile slowly faded. "Something wrong?"

"No," Saerith shook her head. "Just a little groggy." And then it was back, that same fake smile. It wasn't anything sinister. She didn't feel like he was faking being nice. He really was nice. He just needed to force an impression of happiness on himself.

"I think we'll forego any more training for a bit. Give you some time to recover. That was quite the run you made." His pale features arranged in a half-amused half-impressed expression as he spoke. Saerith didn't really want to think about it. Krae had purposely placed all their lives in her hands, as a test. He would have allowed himself to die, for what? Just to see if she could run the blockade? Truth was she didn't feel like she'd done much of anything. It had been Hax who pulled them in her mind.

"You did good too," Krae said slowly, looking at the reptilian style droid curled up on the table. Saerith was sure he was struggling with reconciling Hax with the droids he was used to. Saerith wasn't really sure about that either. He didn't behave like a droid. In fact, he rarely behaved at all. Definitely more of an organic trait. At being addressed, Hax deigned to lift his visor and look at Krae.

"You kidding? I carried this scrub."

Saerith nearly shoved him off the table. It was one thing to downplay her accomplishment and award Hax the majority of the credit in her own mind, but to have him voice it aloud? She glared at him fiercely, but as was his nature he ignored her. He lowered his visor and carried on pretending to be asleep. Krae looked at the droid unsure of how to respond. Instead, he leaned over to Saerith and asked quietly,

"What did he say?"

"Nothing important enough to worry about." She scoffed.

"Well," Krae said as he stood. "You go ahead and rest then. I'll give you a couple days. Once we come out of hyperspace I've got to reach out to some old contacts. No way am I heading back to Mandalorian space with you two."

"So what, you're just not going to go back?" She questioned. "What about this ship?" Krae laughed a little as he ran his thumb over the hilt of his sword.

"Truth is, the brass has been trying to shake me loose for years. I'm something of a traditionalist and they're... more progressive. I've clashed more than a few times with the Mandalorian command. The way I see it, this ship is a small price to pay to be rid of me."

"So they're not going to come after you?"

"Unlikely," Krae looked her in the eye and grinned. Saerith was startled as she noted it was a real smile. "They're afraid of me." With those ominous words Krae departed and Saerith was left to wonder just what she had gotten herself into.

The internal ruminations didn't last long as eventually, Hax, unable to stand his boredom anymore, stood and made his way over to her.

"So," he said.

"So..." Saerith responded.

"Were you planning on just leaving me with the Front?" The direct question caught her by surprise and she started guiltily. She had, actually. In truth, she considered the little droid a rather dear friend. Seeing as her goal was to get away from what friends she had left to keep them from dying, it seemed to make sense not to bring him along at the time. None of this could be admitted to the little droid, of course, as he'd let it go to his head while mocking her relentlessly for it.

"See-" Saerith started, as she tried to think up a good lie.

"Meh, it doesn't matter," the droid interrupted her. "Despite your attempt to abandon me I'm still here, so obviously you've come to terms with the fact that you need me."

"Yeah... that." She nodded, feeling a sense of relief. Apparently mollified, Hax began inspecting her.

"Oh man, that guy really ran you into the ground... or did you always look like that?" He prodded her chin with his nose. Saerith laughed. She couldn't help herself. Another person might have been offended, but Saerith knew Hax well enough to know that the gentle nudge was as good as a declaration of forgiveness. She gathered him up in her arms and gave him a hug. Being quite heavy despite his size and more prone to having sharper bits than living things, this was not really advisable, but Saerith didn't care. She was just glad to have him there.

"Unhand me this instant!" He barked at her, but only after a few seconds of contact. She leaned forward and deposited him on the table. He shook himself out and quickly reestablished his prickly dignity. Saerith just grinned at him though, and eventually he turned away and curled up on the table once more. "You should finish eating," he muttered.

Having had her mind drawn back to the needs of her stomach, Saerith took his advice with gusto. After she finished eating she returned to the cockpit. She kind of expected to find Krae there, but it was empty.

'Suppose there's no reason for anyone to sit here while we're in hyperspace,' she thought.

Regardless, Saerith sat down at the controls and began going through the ship's various systems. Most of them were locked, as it would be disastrous to activate any of them while in hyperspace. She contented herself with simply becoming familiar with the controls. She would've been amazed if she'd done half as well as she had with the blockade, considering she'd never flown a ship using the same control scheme. About half the control consoles buttons were still a mystery too. Though, it occurred to her the ship had weapons, weapons she probably could have been using.

It didn't matter now. They were passed that point and she would hopefully have time to learn how to take full advantage of the vessels capabilities before the next time. Funny how one just assumes there is going to be a next time. Saerith snorted. 'Of course there was going to be a next time.' That was simply the way her life seemed to go. If it wasn't one bunch of people trying to blow her brains out, it was another bunch trying to sell her into slavery... again. She shivered at the thought. She'd been spared the harsher realities of being a female slave the first time due to her youth and valuable tinkering skills. If it happened again she doubted she'd be so fortunate.

Pushing the thought away from her mind, she resumed inspecting the ships many interface modules. There were certainly more now than there had been when she first left Dantooine's soil, due to Hax bringing many systems online for the first time. The ship had several turrets on swivels, along the top back and front, and a couple on the bottom. She almost couldn't believe the level of firepower suggested by the data. Only then did it occur to her that all of this information was likely classified by the Mandalorians.

"Getting a good look?" Krae asked from behind her, like her realization had summoned him. Saerith jumped and carefully extracted herself from the seat and looked at Krae.

"Sorry, I don't mean to snoop, but I felt like it was important to really understand all the tools I had to work with."

Krae's sour look turned into a smile, another fake one, but it worked just as well at dispelling his ruse. "That's fine with me, most of that there is beyond me." Krae gestured at the controls. "I can make her go up and down, even side to side on occasion, but I know she'd be a lot more effective in the hands of a capable pilot."

"Well actually, I think it takes two to really make this ship work like it should. It's funny you don't have an astromech or something. Luckily Hax can serve-"

"Are you comparing me to an astromech?" Hax's voice blared from the intercom.

Saerith grinned fiendishly. "Never," she responded to the air. No doubt Hax was listening. "You're not nearly as useful as an astromech, but you'll do."

"I'll have you know-" He began to retort but was cut off as Saerith hit the mute button and giggled slightly. Krae was grinning as well. Saerith didn't bother to observe it too closely. It would only spoil her mood to find out it was another fake.

"He seems like a handful, but a capable handful." Krae gestured back down the hallway. Without a doubt indicating her companion who was likely still camped out on the table.

"I need to find something for him to do, if he's got time to be listening in on conversations in other rooms." She was positive he would be shouting something at her through the intercom, but the mute button remained firmly in place. Guess it wasn't automated or he would have sliced through and disabled it already. He was probably attempting to do so even as she contemplated it.

"Well, I didn't mean to distract you for too long," Krae began. Saerith raised her hand, intending to dissuade the notion that he was bothering her, but he'd already turned and walked away. Saerith stood there a moment, hand still in mid-gesture before letting it fall to her side. Krae was sporadic about his contact. One second seeming interested in having a conversation and the next entirely shut off.

'Suppose everyone has their own way of cutting and running.' She turned and leaned against the back of the pilot's seat, her eyes gazing at the consoles, but not really seeing them. 'What am I doing here?' She wondered. It seemed every path she followed trying to get some distance from trouble, she instead managed to find a shortcut.

Krae was a good guy as far as she could tell. She owed him her life anyway. Might have even been attracted to him if he was a little younger. She banished the thought. Best not to let those sort of feelings creep in. They only made the inevitable separation more painful. Saerith would have no part in that. 'Seems like he's carrying his fair share of pain though.' She shook her head at her own thought, it was a bold assumption on her part.

Somehow, despite having lost many of her loved ones over the course of her life, she felt Krae's pain ran deeper. Saerith reached over and flicked the mute switch on the intercom. Half expecting Hax to still be jabbering away. It would have been a nice distraction, but silence rang through. She spun the seat and fell into it. Facing the doorway rather than the ships instruments. She had the strangest feeling Krae would once again appear as soon as she turned away from the door.

"Hax," she said to thin air. "How long until we arrive?" Nothing but silence followed the question and Saerith sighed. She knew the droid was listening. Ignoring her out of spite. Spite... it was a really useless sort of thing for a droid to have and yet... it seemed to make so much sense that Hax should do so.

"I have this strange recollection," she put on an exaggerated tone as if trying very hard to remember something obscure. "…Something about a barrel roll, and a droid who needed to be dissembled into all their singular par-"

"Hour and a half."

"Oh, why thank you. I seem to have forgotten all about what I was saying though." Saerith grinned to herself slightly and leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes briefly. 'Still have no idea what I've gotten myself into, but so far, so good.' She had to believe that at some point things would turn around. Eventually something would stick. Eventually she'd be able to squeeze some happiness out of her life. Eventually...

Saerith pushed herself out of the seat and meandered into the far corners of the ship. Simply looking at things. It was a pretty solid piece of engineering she had to say. She hadn't really expected anything less after her first impression though. Still, she found things that needed improvement here and there, and more than a few poor welds that she suspected were Krae's doing.

'He really should have had a droid along to fix those sort of things if he couldn't manage it himself. Seriously, riding a ship through the vacuum with no idea how to fix anything on it is a bad idea.'  
One of the worst she'd ever heard. She could only imagine the slow agony of dying of starvation in space. Assuming of course dehydration or suffocation didn't get you first. Regardless, she'd put her full effort into making sure none of those fates befell the inhabitants of this particular vessel. She felt confident enough in her own skill that it should at least move their most likely cause of death up to "direct hit."

Saerith eventually returned to the galley area only to find Hax had moved on. Not entirely sure where a droid would "hang out", Saerith sat down. Great, now she was bored. It didn't bode well. Finally experiencing her dream of living on a ship and getting bored before her first long hyperspace jump was even over? Perhaps it was because she still felt out of place. The ship's interior hadn't become familiar to her yet. Only the passage of time would make this place feel like she belonged in it.

She drummed her fingers on the table, one hand under jaw. She still felt stiff but she supposed training with Krae would be a way to pass the time. Though there couldn't be much more time left before they arrived. That was something else, what exactly we're they going to do now? Krae had said something about reaching out to old contacts, which didn't really tell her much. Saerith set what Krae had said aside and decided to puzzle out what she would do if she were in his position, which quickly turned into an impossible task. She knew hardly anything about him.

"Ugh," she rubbed her forehead with the heel of her palm. 'Why am I worrying about this now?' It seemed silly when she considered. Whatever came next, she was along for the ride. Besides, if she really wanted to know that badly... All she had to do was go ask Krae. Doubtless he would fill her in on his plans. If he really had any, lesson two and all that.

"Not regretting at leisure are we?" Saerith snapped her head up, which had fallen into her hands. So quickly she nearly hurt herself. Rubbing her neck, she looked at Krae as he dug some food out of the cooler.

"No. Just not really sure what the plan is from here."

Krae turned back towards Saerith and leaned against the wall. "Like I said, I'm going to reach out to some old contacts and find us some work."

"Work? What sort?" Krae smiled.

"Oh you know, the kind that suits our combined skillsets. You're a good pilot, and I bet with that droid of yours you can make this ship dance." Saerith felt like that was a vast overestimation of her skill, but she didn't argue. If he felt she was useful it'd be best to let him go on thinking so.

"As for me..." Krae's fake smile grew slightly. "I'll do the heavy lifting." Saerith supposed that meant he'd do all the fighting and killing that these jobs required.

'So what? We're bounty hunters now? Mercenaries?' Neither of those two lines of work sat well with Saerith. Yet again, she couldn't argue. It was Krae's ship and she was just along for the ride.

"So-" she started to say. Deciding to argue anyway but Hax caught her first.

"I suggest someone get into the cockpit," his voice blared out. "Coming out of Hyperspace in about ten seconds." Saerith sat frozen in her seat for a full two seconds before Krae looked at her and said,

"You should probably go handle that."

"Right," Saerith responded, suddenly thawing and leaping from her seat. She made it to the cockpit with just enough time to sit, pull on her headset, and drop them out of hyperspace. The long white streaks of light vanished to be replaced with the inky blackness of space and its twinkling stars. A large station drifted in orbit around a planet who's name she didn't know.

"Primarily a hold-over point for trans-galactic freight. Moving things back and forth between the mid and outer rims," Hax informed. The word "Ilian" flashed across Saerith's console. The station's name. Saerith wasn't sure if she should be making preparations to dock with them or not. It'd been Hax who jumped them here. She tapped a button and opened the intercom ship wide. "Krae, what's the plan here?"

She heard Krae's voice crackle out of her headset. "What the- do I just talk?"

"Yeah," Saerith answered, fighting back a smile.

"Right, no need to put in, I don't think. Just make sure we don't run into anything while I make some calls."

Saerith flicked a couple switches, activating some small maneuvering thrusters and began to twirl the ship this way and that. In her mind consoling herself that it was good practice but really she just wanted to play with it.

"What are you doing?" Hax's voice crackled in her headset. He didn't seem amused.

"Practicing," she replied as she sent the ship into a roll.

"Right, well… You do realize all those ships out there can see you doing that." Saerith had not considered that, and she was still trying to decide if she cared or not when a little orange light began blinking.

"You're being hailed. Click the button." Saerith flicked it before she really thought the action through. Crackle.

"This is the Republic Ship Orion. Is everything alright?" Saerith choked and nearly hung up the call, barley able to check the motion as she reached for the button. Hanging up on a Republic ship was probably a terrible idea.

"Roger that Orion. This is Specter. We had a close call with some debris before entering hyperspace. Just running some diagnostics."

Crackle. "Copy that Specter. Do you need assistance?"

"Negative," Saerith said maybe a little too fast. "Everything's green." She heard Hax snicker in her ear. No doubt mocking her own particular coloration. Another couple seconds of silence.

"Copy that Specter. Orion out." Saerith closed the channel and turned off the tight maneuvering thrusters.

"I don't ever get to have any fun." she muttered as she brought the ship to a near standstill.

"Woe is you." Hax jibed. Unfortunately for him this also reminded Saerith.

"Also, something wrong with green? I've been thinking about painting you green. Some sort of neon green."

"That's not funny…"

"What makes you think I'm trying to be funny?" Only silence followed. Satisfied Hax had been reprimanded, she stared blankly at her controls. What fun was it to be a pilot if she didn't actually get to do any flying?

'Suppose it's a job now and not a hobby,' she thought impetuously.

"Guess I've been talking to the walls for no reason," Krae said, suddenly behind her again. Saerith only jumped a little this time.

"It's an intercom," Hax said, now speaking from the walls, "You gotta' turn it on before anyone can hear you." Krae rubbed the back of his neck as if embarrassed. Apparently not realizing that Hax had probably heard before and ignored him.

"Right... well, I've got something. Pretty small time. Just someone who wants to get out of sight for a while. Gonna' lay low with us on the ship. Pay a monthly fee." Saerith rotated her seat to face Krae.

"Sounds easy enough. Who or what are they hiding from?" Krae shrugged.

"Don't know, didn't ask. You shouldn't either. That's the point." Saerith couldn't help but be instantly curious. Still, she suppressed all of the questions she'd never get to ask and moved on. "Well that's something. We got anything else?" Krae grinned.

"Well, I've got a potential lead. Guess there's a bounty on this Rodian I happen to know is hiding out in Nar Shadda's red light district." Saerith repressed a shudder.

She'd spent years on Nar Shadda. Stranded and on the run. Now she was going to its surface so they could do the hunting. Saerith couldn't help but feel bad at the thought and some of that must have shown through on her face because Krae further explained.

"Guess he kidnapped some Senator's son. Demanded a ransom. After they paid the ransom he jettisoned the kid and went into hiding with the money." As was undoubtedly the point of telling her that. Saerith's empathy dried up fast.

"So where are we headed?" She asked.

"Outer Rim. Gonna' bring this client on board first and then see if we can catch up with our Rodian before anyone else does. After that..."

"Yeah I know, lesson two." Krae grinned at her.

"See, you're learning already. Now as for the meet up¬"

"Got it covered," Hax suddenly interjected. "Coordinates are logged in the flight computer." Krae scowled.

"How would you know that? I was on a secure channel."

"You were too; it took like a whole five seconds to slice it." Replied the droid. Saerith laughed at the look of horror on Krae's face.

"Don't feel too bad," she said. "That's about four and a half seconds longer than it normally takes." Code was the only slicer that Saerith had ever met who was good enough to keep Hax out of anything.. "So what about your friends back home?" Krae shrugged.

"I forwarded that I'd be unable to return to Mandalorian space for a while. I'm on leave for an indeterminate amount of time. Likely forever, unless something goes really wrong."

'Forever?' Krae had said it wouldn't be possible to go back with her and Hax, but that didn't necessarily mean he couldn't ever return.

"Alright, let's get under way. We've got a client waiting on us." Saerith gladly spun back towards the consoles and started to bring the ship up to speed. Then the little orange light was blinking again.

"It's the Orion again," Hax informed her. She'd been leery about picking it up.

"Orion?" Krae asked.

"Republic Ship."

Krae reached over and hit the comm button himself.

"Orion to Specter. Do you copy Specter?"

"This is Specter," Krae answered, his voice even, carrying a hint of authority she hadn't known he possessed.

"Specter," said a new voice over the mic. "This is Captain Oni. You are hereby ordered to stand down and await bordering." Krae frowned, though he didn't seem surprised.

"On what grounds?"

"Suspected of being a Mandalorian vessel."

"Oh, is that all? Let me help you on that score. This is Lt. Colonel Krae Svar of the Mandalorian Army. I have no intention of obliging to your request. Any attempts to stop or board my vessel will be met with hostilities. Are we clear Captain?"

Krae muted the mic. "Hax, get the Orion on my monitors." Saerith knew the make immediately. It was a light Republic Cruiser. Despite being four times the Specters size it was no match. "Any other Republic Ships in support?" Krae asked.

"Negative," Hax responded after a moment. "They're bringing their weapons online."

Saerith saw Krae's face fall into a blank stare. The same look he'd worn shortly before he'd killed Arcenian Pask. "Hax."

"Roger... alright. Targeting modules have all been sliced. No way they'll be able to get a fix on us any time soon." Krae flicked the mute button off.

"Captain. If you persist we will be forced to kill you." Static blared out of the mic for a few seconds and Saerith was beginning to think they would indeed persist when finally,

"This is Orion, standing down," The Captains voice had been replaced by the comm officers once more.

"Saerith, take us out of here," Krae's voice was flat. Saerith brought the engines to full power and the ship leapt forward. It didn't take long before they were well away from the station and its republic inhabitants.

"Gonna' have to do something about the emblem on the side of the ship," Saerith said. Krae was silent for a moment before he sighed.

"I suppose. I'd rather not remove it, but if we're promising to keep clients under the radar on-board this ship it won't do to have every Republic ship trying to arrest us."

Hax's voice crackled over the intercom. "Approaching the jump mark. E.T.A thirty seconds." Unlike the thirty seconds before her first jump with this ship, these passed peacefully. "Accelerate to Hyperspeed in three... two... now." Saerith rolled the lever forward on her console and the stars stretched long into bright white lights and they were gone.


	7. Chapter 7

The long stretch of lights that made up the entirety of hyperspace snapped back into their singular shimmering expanse of stars as the Specter finished it's jump. The small green sphere that was their destination was almost invisible as the local star passed behind it.

' _thankfully I don't have to rely on just what I can see.'_

"DL-8642, Jungle Moon" Flashed across the monitor, and a trajectory plot to the small transport hub in orbit followed shortly. Saerith leaned over and switched on the intercom

"This is the place. Head on up."

Not waiting for a reply, she closed the channel. Krae didn't know how to use the intercom anyway.

 _Not sure what's so hard about pushing a button, but I guess he can't be good at everything._

"Not much to look at." Krae flopped down into the seat next to her.

She nodded. Their approach had placed the star on the far side of the moon, allowing them to get a good look at the station. Her hands danced over the controls and the image was magnified on screen. The state of it left her with a strong desire to skip the place and land on the moon itself.

"Is that debris… is it falling off the station?"

She gritted her teeth, but didn't answer. The whole thing was falling apart. She tapped a few more keys, requesting a landing site on the surface and didn't have to wait long for a reply.

"Guess all the traffic goes through the station. We're gonna have to land there."

Krae nodded without looking up from a data pad in his hand.

"Skylark runs the station, and they own the moon." 

Saerith felt her stomach drop at the thought.

' _who buys an entire moon?'_

The intercom dinged as it came on.

"We could just run it. It's not like they've got anything that could stop us."

Saerith shook her head. It was surprising Hax would want to take such a direct approach. He preferred the time spent in dock to the long hyperspace jumps.

"No Extranet?" She grinned.

"Not a drop." The distortion of the intercom couldn't mask his tone of disappointment.

"Can't do that. We want to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible here," Krae informed them as he put away the data pad and pushed himself out of his seat.

"Just put us on down on the station and we'll figure it out from there."

He exited the cockpit and left Saerith to her dark imaginings of the ship plummeting to the surface if the landing pad gave way beneath it, which it looked likely to do.

 __Saerith brought the Specter in on a large circular platform and all her misgivings were magnified as she took note of the extensive state of disrepair. It was as if the metal of the station were rotting away. Much of it looked to have rusted through the meters thick outer layer. Multiple interior breaches were visible even from her limited vantage point in the ships cockpit.

' _what's wrong with these people? No one who can afford to buy a moon should be using this floating junk heap.'_

One good impact would likely shatter the entire thing; raining molten debris on the moon below. After a brief internal struggle with just abandoning the station, and the job along with it Saerith resigned herself. All she could hope for was that they would finish and leave quickly.

She powered the ship down and flopped back in her seat. One day she'd get to test the ships full functionality in a situation where she wasn't moments from death. Skirting the moons modest defenses would've been a good exercise. She patted the ships dash affectionately.

"Soon"

' _And that's enough messing around'_

She stood, raising her arms above her head and giving her back a good stretch.

' _Guess I'll go find the man with no plan'_

She made her way down the corridor from the cockpit to the ships galley. Krae was already present. Lounging casually in one of the seats around the table. He glanced up as she walked in.

"Shuttles to the surface is waiting for us, you've got five minutes." 

"What about the ship? I'd really rather not just leave it sitting here. With no one onboard I mean."

Krae waved a pale hand dismissively.

"It'll be fine, Hax can look after it while were gone. Hax, if anyone but us comes near the ship weapons free."

"Absolutely" he responded via the intercom.

Saerith had to clamp down on her throat to stop the manic laughter that tried to force its way out.

 _He just gave my droid a gun! Oh, force he just gave my droid six rotary turbo-lasers of sufficient magnitude to make cruisers think twice!_

Saerith meant to protest again but Krae read her intentions and cut her off.

"four and a half minutes. Unless you plan to go in what you're wearing."

 _No chance._

After a long hyperspace journey, Saerith had changed into more comfortable clothing. Still, she hesitated. Mischief involving her droid was typically harmless, but she was careful to limit his responsibilities. She was certain the unfortunate 'crazy' that possessed Krae to think this was a good idea, would produce a disaster of some kind instead.

 _Whatever Krae, it's gonna be your mess to clean up._

She sighed with resignation, and turned to leave the galley headed down a side hallway to her bunk.

 _Who am I kidding, this will be my fault somehow._

It was pretty standard for her to catch flak for Hax, he was her droid after all. Though in most cases that meant the droid had no choice but to listen, Hax didn't have any such compulsions as far as she could tell. 

The door to her room slid out of sight and as she crossed the threshold she was seized by the desire to just fall into her bed and stay there. The comfort offered by the Specter was minimal, but for Saerith it was the lap of luxury. The easy comfort of having a bed to fall into when life became too much was taken for granted, but it had been a long time since it'd had been hers.

 _And if this ship falls off the station because of your time wasting it'll be pretty short lived so you better get moving._

She growled deep in her throat, and a pit formed in her stomach as she resolved to leave the ship. It wasn't just the stations disrepair that made her uneasy about leaving. She always felt stuck when she was on the ground. She felt safe in the void, far and away from all the dangers of people. Natural gravity was a ball and chain, a dead weight that kept you within easy reach of monsters. She didn't know how anyone could stand it.

"Thinking so deeply doesn't suit you organics."

Hax wiggled his small reptilian frame out from under the gap between her bed and the floor.

"Best just to leave that me."

Saerith, lost in her anxious musing hadn't noticed she'd been standing there staring at the shirt she was supposed to be putting on.

"Because you're so smart." She muttered angrily, pulling the shirt over her head. After she got the garment settled she looked to find Hax sitting on his hindquarters staring up at her.

"Someone's grumpy today. Want to talk about it?"

"No"

"Good" he flicked his tail dismissively and turned away from her. "You should get going."

She sighed. Hax didn't deserve to be snapped at.

 _At least not right this second_ ,

But she didn't have it in her to apologize with her stomach knotted so tightly.

"This is what I mean" his voice floated up to her as he made a show of inspecting the wall on the far side of the room. "You start thinking, and you get lost in it. Better to stay in familiar territory."

Saerith strapped her blaster to her thigh and headed out of the room.

 _He can be a real jerk sometimes, but then again so can I._

She shook her head, trying to clear her it as she made her way back to the galley. She was already going to make them late, and she wasn't sure why her temper was up. Hax knew how to push buttons, but she couldn't lay the blame at his feet. Krae looked up from his seat as she came in, his brow furrowed in annoyance and opened his mouth to speak, but something on her face must've stopped him from issuing the deserved rebuke.

"You ready?"

A wave of cold fear rolled out from her stomach and her extremities tingled as it passed over them.

"Yeah." She answered mechanically

 _Get a grip Saer_

Krae studied her for a moment and then rose his seat.

"Let's go, and don't forget."

He pointed at the pack leaning against the wall next to the exit ramp.

Saeriths anxiety lessened some as she hefted it on to her back. It was almost as long as she was tall. Matte black and heavy.

 _What's even in this thing?_

Krae had never opened it, or bothered to tell her. She considered asking him as he opened the door and deployed the ramp.

 _No point, he'll never give me a straight answer._

She wondered if he was naturally evasive, or if he'd picked it up somewhere.

 _You have a better chance of finding out what's in the pack._

She almost snorted a laugh, but just managed to repress it. She fell in behind Krae as he left the ship, watching his lanky frame with its graceful stride and found the anxious pit in her stomach had become manageable. Whatever happened she was certain she'd be alright so long as Krae were around

 _Besides, this isn't supposed to be a dangerous mission. We're just picking someone up._

With that thought, her attention was drawn back to the station. They followed the single walkway to the main body of the structure. If there were any cause to be worried…

"I don't understand how they let it get like this."

Krae glanced around, and shrugged.

"If I had to guess, they made it out of Tatooine Iron. The stuff is useless as far as metal goes. It degrades extremely quickly. It's cheap though. I knew a guy with a vibroblade made of the stuff once. He's dead now. It just goes to show you should never be cheap with your weapons."

Saerith shook her head. A whole space station was a big investment. Probably more credits than she could fathom had gone into the thing. It didn't make sense, but the mystery of rich people wasting money was driven from her mind as they approached the shuttle bay.

Unlike the station, the staff that operated it were clean and well ordered. They moved around her with purpose, intent on their work. Tidy in their blue, grey and white uniforms. Almost mirroring Republic officers in design, it gave her the impression of an elite force. An impression further supported by the presence of stone faced security in full combat gear.

The dark clad figures loomed menacingly between the rushing employees. Eyes roving back and forth suspiciously. Krae with his easy grace and her with the giant pack were drawing a lot of hard glares. Though none made a move to intercept them, their desire to do so was palpable. She suspected the indescribable aura around Krae inclined them to avoid inciting conflict. She was sure they wouldn't have thought twice about stopping her otherwise.

"We don't seem very popular."

Krae shrugged without looking back at her.

"We're not here to be popular."

"It just bothers me, people assuming I'm up to no good."

another shrug

"Who says we're not? This way."

Krae headed for a counter with one, straight backed, short haired woman a with a too-big smile that somehow took away from what was usually a pretty face.

"We've got a shuttle scheduled for the surface."

She nodded and tapped a couple buttons on her Kiosk screen.

"Name?"

"Kask, and one attendant."

A few more taps, "Okay, and the attendants name?" Saerith froze as Krae looked back at her.

 _Do I use a fake name? This is what happens when you have no plan!_

She opened her mouth while her mind went blank. The seconds ran one into the next until her lack of an answer caused that too-big smile to falter. Finally, her brain kicked into gear and she said the first thing that came to mind.

"Kiala, my name is Kiala."

She scrutinized them a moment longer, and then the too-big smile was back.

"Yes, I've got a booking for a Kask and… attendant. Well that's odd, they usually provide a name. Ah well, never mind. Your shuttle is ten minutes overdue to launch."

"My apologies, as you noticed. She's a little slow."

Krae jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, and gave the clerk a meaningful look.

"Ah I see." She responded, her eyes flicking briefly to Saerith.

 _I'm going to kill him. I'm going to have Hax lock him in his room and vent the oxygen._

"You're all ready to go then. Your shuttle is right over there." Krae nodded and strolled away, and as Saerith made to follow the clerk leaned over and spoke slowly, and entirely too loud for their proximity.

"I hope you enjoy your trip."

Saerith smiled and bobbed her head and took off after Krae

 _No, suffocation isn't nearly painful enough._

"What was that?!" she growled at him under her breath once she'd caught up

He turned his head to wink at her over his shoulder.

"Next time I say five minutes, you'll be ready in five minutes."

She glowered at his back as he exchanged pleasantries with the shuttle pilot. It was a long moment before Saerith really took note of his appearance. Unlike the other employees here he wasn't done up in the same professional style. His clothing much more casual, and he was in general messier in his appearance. Despite that he had an air of competence about him as he spoke with Krae, mostly concerning the heavy shuttle traffic.

"Yeah, no one's allowed to land direct anymore. It's been good for business, but we can't handle the volume. A lot of people have to wait weeks to go down, and coming back up can take even longer."

"Do you know why that is? It's a pretty unusual restriction." Krae asked

"Oh I don't have the first clue. Just some hearsay about unauthorized mining. It stands up to scrutiny though, Skylark takes their mineral rights pretty serious." His voice matched the genuine smile on his face and Saerith found herself smiling in return. She guessed that's what prompted him to speak when he glanced at her over Krae's shoulder, looking at her for the first time.

"Well well, aren't you a pretty thing. What's your name?"

A little taken aback at being addressed as a 'thing', she started to answer without thinking

"S-"

"This is Kiala, my attendant." Krae cut her off. "We should probably get underway. We've already got you behind schedule."

Smiley, as Saerith dubbed him, glanced at Krae. His features arranged in mildly surprised expression, but if he thought Krae was rude it didn't bother him for long.

"Right you are, if you'll just give me that bag little la-"

"No, that stays with her. Sorry, I like to keep it close."

Smiley was starting to look really concerned.

"It's not advisable to have luggage in the passenger area. If we hit a rough patch it could do some real damage."

Krae waved this off. "That's a risk I'm willing to take, if you don't want the job I'd be happy to give another pilot my fee."

Smiley was now the least smiley he'd been since she first saw him.

 _Way to go Krae, aggravating nice people must be a talent of yours. What do you have in this bag that's so important anyway?_

"No, I don't think that'll be necessary. Just…" he looked at Saerith. "keep a good grip on it. Should be fine."

 _Must be some fee_.

He tapped a few times on a wrist-mounted data pad and the side of his shuttle turned into a door, and slid back on rails. He ducked inside followed closely by Krae and then Saerith.  
The inside was the same flat gray color as the exterior and against each wall were several bucket seats, equipped with a full harness.

 _Minimum comfort, maximum safety._

It was a standard shuttle design. She'd done work on many vehicles in this class back on Coruscant. Where she'd gotten her formal education as a mechanic, and this one was in excellent repair. She was glad to see she'd judged Smiley correctly.

Smiley pointed at some seats near the front.

"Go ahead and get strapped in, I gotta do my preflight check."

Saerith flopped down in the seat at the front and strapped herself into the harness while Krae did so on the opposite side. They had some time and she found herself looking contemplatively at the seat next to hers.

"Do you suppose I could get the pack strapped into this seat? Also, what is your deal? Why do I need to carry it?"

Krae grinned at from across the aisle.

"I thought I explained that already."

Saerith glared at him.

"I think you're taking this Rule Two nonsense a little far. He's right you know. If this thing gets loose in here it could kill us both, or at least do some serious damage."

Krae shrugged at her, still grinning.

"Then I guess you better keep a good grip on it."

Saerith chose to ignore him and resumed her contemplation. The pack was shaped enough like a person in its dimensions that she could probably get the straps tight around it. The main issue was that would stand up too high in the seat. With only the lower part strapped in there was a good chance it could slip out and wreak bloody havoc.

She sighed and situated herself, so she could hold the bottom of it between her knees grip the top in a tight bear hug.

"I don't know what you got in here, but it better be worth all the trouble."

Krae looked at her, his expression suddenly serious.

"There's more than your life's worth in that bag."

Saerith's mouth hung open slightly, and she stared at him blankly.

"Then why don't you just leave it on the ship?" She asked, a tone of mingled surprise and annoyance.

"Wouldn't do me much good there would it?"

"I don't know! I don't know what it is!"

"and if you're lucky, you won't find out today."

Krae rested his head against the back of his seat and closed his eyes. This somehow forestalled any further questions, even as she burned with curiosity.

 _I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with him. He's just determined to be so damn mysterious._

Very little annoyed Saerith more than people withholding information from her, especially when she was certain they were doing it just because they knew it annoyed her. She didn't get to hold on to her feelings long though. Smiley called back from the Cockpit.

"You all tucked in good and proper back there? Good. We're heading out."

Saerith tried to lean forward, so she could see up the aisle and out the cockpit window, but her harness wouldn't allow it. She rested back in her seat, mildly sulky.

 _Why'd we have to get the one with no windows?_

She'd seen a dozen shuttles in the bay of a higher quality, no doubt with more amenities for passengers, such as windows. All in all it was a pretty boring trip. Krae never opened his eyes and with very little to look at beyond the closed interior of their shuttle she had nothing to do but continue sulking.

When the shuttle finally settled on the ground Saerith had to resist the desire to start undoing her harness immediately. She could hear smiley chattering away to someone and the satisfying click sound of switches being flipped.

"Alright ladies, we're on the ground," He called back, "feel free to stretch them legs."

The shuttle doors popped their seal, and slid free. Saerith freed herself as fast she could, and stood. The short ride had still managed to leave her lower back stiff. She braced her hands against the back of her hips while arching herself backwards and got a few satisfying clicks for her effort.

Krae, in no need of a good stretch apparently was already exiting the shuttle so she sighed, and pulled his pack on. The little moon was still some hours from sunrise, and Saerith was met with the harsh white-yellow glare of synthetic lighting.

The large platform they'd landed on was some hundred meters distant from a large hole in the ground. The same artificial lighting indicated more such platforms placed around its edge. The hole itself was a truly massive blemish on the landscape, like a pyramid they meant to carve out of the ground, it descended in ever smaller tiers.

Even in the early hours of morning the whole operation was alive with activity. Miners, machine operators and work operators scurried to-and-fro. Large drilling rigs dotted the landscape. A few of them were actively engaged in work around the edge of the dig site.

Saerith felt her anxiety rising again. It would be too easy to get lost in the bustle of this place, especially in the dark. Even with the large lamps set up everywhere, there were still large swaths of darkness between the groupings of people working one project or another and the incessant feeling of being trapped was creeping in now that she was back on the ground.

Krae raised his hand, signaling her without looking back.

"Come on, our contact is on another platform. We'll be going back up in their shuttle."

Saerith fell in step with Krae, her eyes roving over the patch of darkness that awaited them once they'd walked down the ramp off the platform. She hitched the pack up more firmly and moved a little closer to Krae

"Why are we meeting them here? If we're just going back up, we could've met them on the station."

"They wanted a chance to talk in private." He answered shortly.

Saerith glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He still looked at ease. The loping grace of a large predator that knew it had nothing to fear. She was sure she saw something in his eyes, but all the finer details of his face were lost in the darkness as they moved away from the platform.

 _Wonder what's got him stirred up?_

She wouldn't say he looked nervous exactly, just on edge. She hadn't known him long enough to say it was unusual for him to be ill at ease, but on their first meeting she'd watched him face down a large, well-armed man who would've happily killed both of them in cold blood, and then only few short hours later he'd run off a pack Kath hounds hunting them in the dark. All without so much as drawing a weapon. Unless you counted killing a man with his own gun.

Saerith was on the verge of asking. She figured anything that could make Krae uneasy was something worth knowing about, but for once was saved the trouble of prying by Krae himself.

"You can't see tell from here, not with the sun down but there's nothing, but jungle on this moon. Outside this work area anyway."

This, if anything, left her more confused.

"I've never been in a jungle." She answered him, her words coming out slowly. Trying her best to imply the question she didn't want to ask directly.

Krae chuckled, the sound telling her they'd drifted apart some in the dark. She moved closer again as he answered her.

"My Clan home is on Dxun, another jungle moon. That's where I grew up. Jungles look pretty, or so I'm told, but they're hard places to live. Extremely unforgiving of stupid mistakes, and young people tend to make a lot of those. No offense."

The crunch of their feet across the dirt was the only sound for a while and Saerith sighed mentally. No more would be forthcoming.

 _I should count myself lucky I guess. I wouldn't have expected him to say anything if someone weren't putting hot pokers to him._

A wry smile twisted her lips

 _Maybe not even then._

Whatever was bothering him, she could only hope it'd come out on its own in time. In any case it looked like their trip through the dark was just about over. A large landing platform loomed closer and Krae made directly for the ramp. Unlike the one they'd landed on, this one was almost entirely empty. Saerith saw a single shuttle, looking oddly lonely on the big platform by itself.

"Wait here a moment."

Saerith froze on the spot; more surprised than following orders. She watched Kraes back as he practically swaggered to the top of the of the ramp and moved forward and approached whoever was waiting there.

 _Well, he did say "in private," did he not?_

She frowned up at where he'd vanished from sight. The distant hum of people yelling over one another, and the deep thrum of the heavy machinery was more than enough to make eavesdropping impossible. She turned away from the ramp, pivoting slowly on the spot.

She thought she could just make out of the edges of the area cleared of jungle. The darkness deepened along the line where flat ground turned jungle undergrowth, and if she strained her eyes she could make out large trees by the gaps in the stars.

 _I wonder…_

She started to take a step, as if she intended to walk towards the edge. Though no real such motivation had been fully formed in her yet.

"Kiala, we're ready." Krae called down to her, and Saerith was pulled in three directions at once. Her head spun around, looking for Kiala, briefly forgetting she'd stolen her friends name. On a deeper level she knew the words were for her. She twisted around all while her leg carried on moving as if she meant to go inspect the jungle. Only one thing can happen when you start trying to go in three different directions at the same time.

It was not a graceful fall. She stumbled sideways, and might've gotten her feet back under her if the heavy pack hadn't thrown her weight off. Instead it turned into an almost staged thing as she took two additional steps in a vain effort to get herself straightened out. Despite her best efforts the world got steadily more horizontal until…

'crunch'

Some mild pain lanced out from her hip and elbow, where she'd braced herself for the fall. Her pride wounded more than her body. She lay there on her side, issuing a flat glare on all of creation.

 _Well that was dumb._

It was a good moment before she could bring herself to look around, and was more than a little surprised to find Krae standing over her. A foot planted on either side of her, his head swiveling back and forth. She only caught half his expression in the poor illumination off the platform, but she really hoped he never looked at her like that.

He was on a hair-trigger for violence, and as she dialed her focus out she realized he was holding his sword at an angle and close to his body. She could only just make it out, glimmering in the darkness.

 _He's hiding it in his shadow? Oh force, he thinks I was attacked!_

Between that thought and the next, she felt heat rising in her face. A second ago she didn't think anything could've made the situation more embarrassing. Now admitting she'd fallen for no reason was ten times as difficult.

"I'm fine, just clumsy."

Krae didn't react immediately, his eyes working relentlessly to penetrate the darkness.

"Right."

His sword practically sheathed itself the movement was so quick. His hand proffered to her, she reached out and grabbed him. The strength of his was grip nearly as surprising as suddenly finding herself once more on her feet.

"You alright?"

Saerith flushed face wouldn't have been visible even in bright daylight because of the dark green coloration of her skin.

 _And thank the force for that or this really would be too much._

"My ego took a beating, but I'll probably be okay."

She couldn't say for certain, his face was cast fully in shadow now, but she got the impression he smiled. She mirrored the smile she wasn't sure existed.

"I appreciate the heroics, but even you can't save me from myself."

This elicited an actual laugh, and Saerith smile broadened, turning crooked. Then a small cough reached them from the platform above. All Saeriths levity vanished as she glanced up. A curiously shaped silhouette was all she had to work from. the lights from above blinded her, masking all the finer details of their client. 

_A dress? No, a robe._

Saerith had met a Jedi once on Coruscant. They'd been done up in a similar fashion except their robe had been a sort of brown. This was same, but different, and she was sure it was more than an effect of the lighting that made it look so dark.


	8. Chapter 8

_

 **Chapter: 8**

_

"Is there a problem?"

The words were stilted, formal and the voice undeniably feminine. You couldn't exactly call it angry, but displeasure at the interruption was palpable in every syllable. Saerith cringed inwardly.

"Not at all." Krae replied, turning away and heading back up the ramp. Saerith followed; doing her best to use him as a barrier against the woman's gaze. Hoping to avoid any further notice.

"Who is it you have brought with you?" The woman asked. "I was under the impression we were to meet in private."

 _Damn it universe, just one time couldn't you be on my side?_

This thought was immediately followed by a series of memories, ending with Krae stepping over the threshold of the room where they'd first met. She'd been moments from being executed when he'd arrived.

 _Yeah, okay._

Krae reached the top of the platform and stood aside. This gave Saerith just enough room to stand beside him, but nowhere to escape too. Not with the woman blocking the rest of the platform. So, she resigned herself to the front and center inspection she was about to receive.

The woman didn't disappoint, and Saerith decided to take the opportunity to study her in return. Though much of her face was cast in shadow by the hood she wore. Saerith caught the glimmer of her eyes in its recesses. The lower part of her face, visible despite the hood, was that of a delicate featured woman. Small, thin lips. Their color mostly concealed under a thin layer of dark lipstick.

Krae introduced Saerith by her fake name, as his attendant and their contact exchanged a meaningful look with him. Saerith guessed the woman knew it to be fake. All the secrecy and fake names were lost on Saerith. She didn't see much point. Once she was safely ensconced on the Specter there'd be no finding her regardless of the names they'd used.

"You may call me Tivari."

At this Krae acquired a sour look

 _Must be her real name_

"I don't think it's-"

"We will not be heard," She cut him off and her gaze locked on Saerith with a laser focus. "What is your real name?"

Saerith glanced at Krae who just shook his head, exasperated.

 _Well that's less than helpful_

"I'm Saerith."

"Ah," she intoned, "Now that has the ring of truth to it. I think we are ready to depart."

Tivari turned away, and Krae shot Saerith a scowl before following her. For once, Saerith wasn't really paying attention to him.

 _Look at how she walks, it's like she's floating._

Back straight, and her shoulders held firmly at full width. Tivari struck an imposing figure in her dark robes.

 _Even if she is a whole foot shorter than me._

Krae entered her view, his loping grace a good match for Tivari's rigid elegance. Saerith was left to follow along behind, resigned to be the uncultured trundle beast that she was.

 _She comes off like some sort of princess. Real story stuff, prancing like that._

Tivari and Krae disappeared into the shuttle and Saerith frowned as she looked it over.

 _What's with these people and not having windows?_

She shook her head and followed her companions. The interior, while not so drab as the military style shuttle they'd rode down in, still wasn't quite she would've liked. The seats were arrayed along either wall, though this time the designers had an eye for comfort as well as safety.

Tivari settled herself in the end seat, and without the slightest show of hesitation Krae strapped in right next to her. Saerith, not nearly so confident in the face of Tivari's oppressive presence settled in on the other side. Directly across from Krae.

"It is not wise, to carry luggage so," Tivari informed her, eyeing Krae's pack pointedly.

"That's what I told him." Saerith pointed at her mentor. "He insists."

Krae shrugged, nonchalant as ever.

"Can't imagine you have room for it anyway. With your own luggage and all."

Tivari shook her head.

"There is plenty of room, but it's too late now."

The shuttle began to hum, and small tremors ran back to front through the frame. All the healthy sounds of a well-maintained ship Saerith noted with approval.

"Oh? Didn't you bring any luggage?" Krae queried, looking at Tivari. His pale face arranged in an expression of polite interest.

"Not to the moon no, it's on the station. They should have it loaded on your ship by the time we arrive."

Krae nodded, but Saerith let out a small squeak of panic. This earned a pair of disapproving glares.

 _That moron forgot. Damn him._

Saerith waved her hand, trying to dismiss the vocalization as a reaction to some small turbulence. Then quickly fished her communicator out of her pocket. Tivari, apparently not convinced by the hand wave studied her closely and Saerith smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way, and turned herself away from the woman's gaze as much as she could. She quickly depressed the button on her comm, holding it close to her mouth so she could whisper into it.

"Hax, please tell me you haven't killed anyone."

"No" His little voice crackled back at her, and Saerith shook her head at how sad he sounded about the fact.

"Okay, there will be some people coming to drop of some luggage- "

"Oh them," He cut her off "Yeah, that situation has been resolved."

"What do you mean 'resolved'?"

"Actually, that's a funny story. So, I was minding my own business as best as I could. There's no extranet here, but I have this game that I picked up a- "

"Hax!" Saerith snarled in a clumsy combination of a whisper and a yell. She could feel the combined weight of her companion's gaze burning into the back of her head.

"Oh fine. Yeah, they showed up carrying crates and I spun the guns around and blasted this Rancor sound at them. You've never seen anyone run so fast." 

Waves of heat radiated across Saeriths face as equal parts mortification and fury waged a battle in her chest.

"What about the luggage?" she choked out

"It's still out there I think. Sitting on the ramp."

"We're on our way back, don't let anyone near it!"

"You bet." He replied, obviously growing bored with the conversation.

Saerith rubbed her free hand across her face and did her best to compose herself. She turned around quickly, cast Krae and Tivari another smile, and stuffed the comm back in her pocket. Their looks made it obvious, if they hadn't caught the details of the conversation. They both knew it didn't bode well.

Saerith leaned on the arm of her seat and placed her hand on her chin, doing her best to shield her face from their stares.

 _Just watch. Krae gave my droid the guns and this still going to be my fault._

She sighed at the thought, and determined in the future that Hax would know better. Regardless of what Krae had to say about anything. She knew the Mandalorian wasn't going to share in his part of the blame for this.

 _Which is all of it._

The rest of the trip was mercifully uneventful and when they finally settled into the hangar on the station Saerith was the first to unstrap herself from the harness. She wasn't sure what she was planning to do. There was no way she could sort the luggage debacle before Krae and Tivari arrived on the ramp, but she had to try something.

Her small desperate hope to cover the mess up came to a crashing end as she jumped out of the shuttle and straight into the arms of a dozen stone faced security guards.

"Do you own the Specter?" The centermost guard asked, eyeing her up and down. His expression making it clear he doubted she owned a ship.

"That would be me. It's my ship."

Krae stepped of the shuttle to stand next to her. His tone was cordial as ever, but his dark gray eyes took on a hard cast as they travelled back and forth across the line of security. His posture relaxed, but everyone seemed to sense the looming threat of violence and more than a few of the guards glanced around at their comrades. Seeking comfort in their numbers.

"What seems to be the problem" He asked politely, his attention now fixed on the apparent leader.

"We detected the ships weapons became active on the platform several minutes ago. This is in violation of the docking contract. Additionally, the weapons were used to threaten Skylark employees. An additional violation"

"I see" was all Krae said. His eyes never shifting from the man's face.

One second ticked into the next, and as the silence continued to stretch the tension rose rapidly. Some of the guards even started to let their hands drift towards their weapons and Saerith was sure that a conflict was inevitable when Tivari suddenly made her appearance.

Stepping between Krae and Saerith she placed herself front and center while lowering her hood. All eyes focused on her. The force of her presence, in contrast to her diminutive figure, seemed to bring everyone back to their senses and the pending confrontation seemed like a far away, and foolish thing.

"These violations incur a fee?" She queried, and the leader nodded sharply, and then seemed to think better of such a curt response.

"Yes ma'am."

"Very well, I will pay the charges." She waved her hand dismissively. "If that is all, we'd like to be underway."

The guards lingered for a moment, comprehension that the nature of the situation had changed slow to dawn. Saerith covered her face with her hand, shaking her head. Her lekku shifting back and forth with the motion.

 _Great, not just an embarrassing mistake, but an expensive one. Thanks, a lot Krae._

The guards dispersed and Tivari moved away, cutting a path through the crowd towards the Specter. Apparently she already knew where they had docked with the station.

Krae lingered a moment and Saerith had the impression he meant to say something, but whatever it was he must've changed his mind. He strode away, hands in his pockets following after Tivari.

Saerith hitched the pack up tight against her shoulders and caught up with Krae. She eyed the single sheathed blade dangling from his waist and quickly looked him over, but saw no clear sign he was carrying any other weapons.

"So, you were going to fight a dozen armed and armored guards with just a sword, huh?"

A smirk twisted his mouth up at the corner.

"Not just a sword, no. I have you after all."

Saerith stared at him, not sure if she should laugh. The only weapon she carried was her blaster, which was a low power civilian model. It was a self-defense weapon. It wouldn't have done much against that armor before she was gunned down. She was about to tell Krae as much.

"I'm sure you would've figured out how best to be useful."

This stalled anything she might've said.

 _Is he mocking me?_

The tone of his voice, and his expression inclined her to believe he was entirely serious. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. Not sure how to feel about it. On the one hand it was a flattering thing, to be relied upon. On the other she felt it was dangerously optimistic and being relied on came with the pressure of living up to it. Something she was not at all confident she could do.

Saerith was drawn sharply from her ruminations when they arrived at the ramp leading to the Specter. Tivari had stopped, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Her luggage sat in a general heap halfway between them and the ship.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Saerith winced, the cordial tone couldn't quite hide the cold fury creeping beneath it.

 _I guess princesses don't approve of heaps._

Krae ambled passed Tivari, waving dismissively at the luggage.

"Saeriths droid. He's… quirky. Don't worry, she will see to your things."

Rage flared in her chest only to die as Tivari turned and leveled her cold blue eyes on Saerith. With the hood removed Saerith got her first good look at Tivari's face, and was struck stupid. Princess did not quite live up to that fine featured dark beauty. Black hair woven into intricate knots, and the contours of her face accentuated by elaborate face paint. All of which served to draw your vision back to those crystal blue eyes.

Silence hung between them until Saerith grinned feebly in the face of the other woman's presence.  
"It's no problem. I'll have it onboard in a snap."

Eyes of ice never wavered as Tivari inclined her head in a small nod. Only when she turned away fully and headed down the ramp was Saerith released from the weight of her attentions. Her anger with Krae had floundered in the face of that look, but still it smoldered in her chest. She wasn't surprised; she'd known from the first that Krae would pin anything Hax did on her, but that didn't take the sting out of being blamed for things that weren't her fault. 

She set to work hauling Tivari's belonging up into the ship; one heavy box at a time. The entire project took more than an hour all told, and Saerith was sweating profusely by the end of it. She slumped heavily against the wall of the half-full cargo area, bracing herself against her knees.

"She sure packs like a princess," She lamented to herself.

Everything Saerith owned wouldn't have filled up even half of one those crates.

 _What is all this stuff anyway?_

She glanced up and looked over the crates, really starting to wonder what someone like Tivari would lug all over the galaxy with her, and was halfway to considering taking a look when Krae appeared in the doorway.

"You all finished up? Good. We need to get off this station."

"Why do we _need_ to?" Saerith asked, thinking it an odd choice of words.

"We've got business elsewhere."

"Nar Shadda?"

"Yeah, hopefully that Rodian is still hiding out there."

Saeriths heart sank. If she never went back Hutt space again it would still be too soon, and Nar Shadda in particular. But it wasn't a conversation she wanted to have so she nodded.

"I'll go get us underway."

She moved passed him and headed for the cockpit. Memories of her time spent in that run-down city scape flashing through her mind. She glanced at the tattoos running down her arms and her resolve strengthened. The symbols that marked most of her skin were a reminder that not everything on Nar Shadda was bad.

 _Just most of it._

She flopped down the seat and started flicking switches, and the thrumming sound of the ship coming to life comforted her more than any words could have. The power to escape into the stars translated into her hands as she took hold of the controls. The ever-ascending whine of the engines coming to life reached its crescendo, and Saerith guided the ship off the platform. Unable to suppress the grin that spread across her face as her anxiety fell away, she pulled her headset on and keyed it to life.

"Hax, plot me a course for Nar Shadda."

His reply came in the form of readout on the navigation screen.

"Thanks." She said to the silence.

The short flight to the jump marker came too soon for Saerith, wanting to spend more time at the controls, but she didn't hesitate as she engaged the hyperdrive. freed from her responsibilities as a pilot for a while, she felt a wave of tiredness wash over her. So without too much regret she put her headset away and wandered back to the galley. She was pleasantly surprised to find Hax sitting on the table. She opened the cooler. Grabbed a bit of food and stopped next to him.

"What are you up to?"

"Nothing," He grumbled.

That was all Saerith needed to hear. She scooped him up in her arms and headed for her room. Normally he'd protest the treatment, but accepted it silently this time. Perhaps feeling some guilt over the mess he'd made for her with the luggage.

Saerith plopped him down on her bed and changed back into the more comfortable clothing she'd been wearing before they'd left for the moon.

"Did you bring me in here to watch you sleep?"

Saerith sat down cross legged on the bed and looked at him.

"Well, you said you had nothing going on. Figured you'd be better off doing nothing in here with me."

He didn't reply, and Saerith leaned back and stared at the ceiling above her bunk.

"Hax, do you suppose this was a mistake."

Hax was awhile in responding but eventually he said.

"By 'this' you mean... leaving the DLF and hopping aboard this ship? Might be but I don't know the future Saer. Of my many talents future sight is not one. Did the mission go poorly?"

Saerith reflected on that. Apart from some disapproving glares and falling over it actually hadn't been that bad. She told Hax as much who tactfully, for once, did not mention the luggage debacle.

"We're really no better or worse off than we were before."

Saerith was warmed by the we. It was nice. To be part of a we.

"Apart from the constant hyperspace travel and the lack of extranet." Saerith prodded him gently with her toe.

"Yes, apart from that." He agreed. "Though I feel much better about you going out with this Krae fellow than anyone in the DLF, or you going off on your own."

Saerith unconsciously reached up to her shoulder and touched the red ink that marked her as a rebel. It was the only tattoo she had that wasn't back. Every day with them had been a struggle. Half the time no one seemed to have any idea what was going on and Dean, for being in charge, had been mentally unstable as far as Saerith could tell. With an effort of will Saerith pushed memories of the experience aside and smiled.

"Aww and here I was thinking you didn't really care," She teased

"Yes, well..." he trailed off; embarrassed at having been called out. Saerith let the joke go. It was the nature of their relationship to be tight lipped about how they felt but maybe it was better not mock each other for showing they cared a little bit.

It was nice to be told straight out, at least once in a while. With this thought in mind Saerith leaned forward and planted a kiss right on the side of Hax's face. The gentle hum of his internal mechanisms thrumming against her lips.

"You're the best friend I could've hoped for."

Hax twitched his tail and laid his head down on her bed and hummed a low six note tune.

 _Probably from one of his games._

It was a pleasant sound and Saerith laid back listening to it as she slowly drifted off to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Well into the second and final leg of their hyperspace journey, and Saerith had exhausted all her busy work. This was the fourth time in two hours she'd stopped to listen to the hyperdrive tick, and just like the last three its timing was perfect.

"How am I supposed to be a mechanic on a ship with no problems?"

She flopped back against the wall, folding her arms across her chest and scowling at the floor as if it had done her a personal wrong. Her problems now were twofold. The nearer the came to Nar Shadda the higher her anxiety climbed.

 _and if that's not bad enough, I've got the three worst travelling companions._

It wasn't that she felt an ever-pressing need to be in conversation, but she hadn't seen Tivari at all since the woman came onboard. She'd caught only fleeting glimpses of Krae, and trying to engage Hax was an exercise in futility. It was one thing to spend a lot of time alone, and something else entirely to spend all of it that way.

 _This Nar Shadda thing is getting to me more than I thought._

Her adopted father had died on Nar Shadda. Gunned down as she looked on. In a panic she'd fled the landing pad, diving deep into the moon-cities underbelly. By the time she'd calmed enough to return to the landing pad; the ship was gone.

 _Trapped_

That's what it meant. Stranded on Nar Shadda with no money or friends. Overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of the place. Far beyond the scope of Saeriths experiences. In her minds eye she saw her younger self, run from that platform into the city where should spend the next six years of her life. Always running, and always trapped.

 _and now I'm going back._

The scowl had fallen from her face, she contemplated the floor blankly for several minutes before finally shaking herself lose from her reverie. Surly there had to be something for her to do. She headed towards the front of the ship.

She pulled up short as she made to cut across the galley, surprised to find Krae there. Booted feet propped casually on the table, tapping his way through a data pad. As was often the case when confronted with the opportunity to interact, Saerith desired to avoid it.

"Wanna tell me what's got you so wound up?" Krae asked, without looking away from the screen in his hand.

 _Not really._

"Just anxious to arrive is all."

The lie came easy, and she decided it was best to engage Krae in a different direction. Some things were better left in the past.

"You know," she intoned, as she flopped heavily into the seat across from him. "It wasn't really fair of you to pin that whole luggage thing on me. I mean you're the one who gave Hax the all clear to shoot at people. I tried to warn you."

Krae finally set down his data pad and looked at her. A wry grin twisting his lips, but despite the curve of his mouth; there was no laughter in his eyes.

 _I wonder why he never really smiles._

"Well you see, I'm kind of the guy on this job. I couldn't have our client thinking I'm incompetent."

"Even if you are incompetent?"

"Especially if I am."

"Well I've got some advice that might improve your odds. Don't trust my droid with a gun."

Krae barked a laugh and Saerith grinned despite herself.

"Speaking of all that, where is our princess?"

Krae eyebrows rose and he shot her a quizzical expression.

"Our what?"

"Tivari," Saerith corrected unnecessarily.

"Yeah, I know who you meant. I just don't remember her being a princess."

 _Well this is dumb. Next time remember to keep your weird ideas on the inside._

She frowned at him and started searching for a way to change the subject.

"That is because I am not one."

Saerith jolted like she'd grabbed a live wire and a wave of cold embarrassment coursed through her.

 _Come on! I take it back, I don't want to talk to them anymore!_

Krae's angular face had reached a new level of amused, and his smile at her embarrassment was even genuine.

 _Well I'm glad to know you enjoy my suffering._

Saerith steeled herself and turned in her seat. She hadn't seen Tivari since they'd left the station and in the seclusion of the ship the woman's appearance had altered drastically. She had washed away her intricate makeup, tied her hair back into a simple braid, and exchanged her rich clothing for simpler dark garments.

Despite that her presence hadn't been lessened one bit. She stood before her, straight backed as the first time they'd met. Her hands clasped at waist level and her crystal blue eyes boring into Saerith wearing an unreadable expression.

"I- I'm sorry about that, I wasn't making fun of you or anything. You just really seemed like a princess is all…"

 _A dark scary princess who poisons people she doesn't like._

Somewhere deep inside her the woman must have possessed a scrap of pity because she spent some of it on Saerith now. "I am not royalty, but I am from a noble house in the Tapani system. I am Tivari of the House Rezz. Though if you insist on referring to me as a princess I will not stop you."

Saerith stared blankly, while her brain ground gears. The silence had thickened into awkward before she realized.

 _She just made a joke._

Despite this Saerith couldn't bring herself to laugh, so she just bobbed her head as if agreeing and turned away. Krae leaned back in his chair, and shot a lazy grin at both of them.

"Anything we can do for you Lady Rezz?"

 _is that how you address a noble woman?_

Saerith felt a new form of anxiety taking root as she contemplated all the things she didn't know. All the ways she could give offense without even knowing she was doing it.

 _I'll have to ask Hax about it. No, that might make it worse._

Saerith, caught up in her new inner-turmoil only distantly noticed that Tivari had taken a seat at the table. Spaced equidistant between herself and Krae. Sitting perfectly straight in her chair she met Krae's eye.

"I would like something to eat."

She phrased it as a request, _pointedly_ phrased it as a request... as if she'd practiced it.

Saerith nearly fell out of her chair in her rush to get her some food. Hoping to redeem herself for the princess situation. She was careful to give Tivari a wide berth and after an awkward trip across the galley she popped open the cooler.

"Anything you'd like in particular mis- erm, lady?"

"No, anything edible will do."

Saerith snatched something at random and returned to the table. Glad to be green skinned so no one could see how flushed she was.

 _I totaly screwed up addressing her- or is Lady wrong? Krae might've just been teasing. What if I am supposed to call her miss or what if it's some other word I don't even know!_

"I'm sorry about the cold rations," Krae said. "I haven't had a chance to stock up on supplies recently."

Tivari simply nodded, and it was at this moment Saerith realized she was still looming over the woman.

"I gotta go... check on the cockpit."

Saerith tried to walk calmly from the room, but sped through the last few steps despite herself. As she departed she found herself wishing she could be like Krae. He was so detached and easy going with that flowing liquid grace. He didn't seem intimidated by Tivari in the least.

"I'm just not cut out for princesses" Saerith muttered as she sat down at the controls. It was just as well she'd come up here. They were only a few minutes out from Nar Shadda. She did a quick check of all the subsystems and prepped the ships various counter-measures. She didn't plan on using them, but she figured it was good practice to have such things ready to go.

The routine kept her occupied until the last second. She rolled back the lever and the stars shrank from long streaks of light into little twinkling lights once more. Saerith settled her headset into place and took hold of the controls, adjusted a little to put them on course with Nar Shadda and activated the intercom.

"Inbound to Nar Shadda Krae. Ten minutes 'till we're on the ground"

It was a figurative statement. She doubted anyone had seen the actual ground on Nar Shadda for a long time.

"Be sure to call ahead and find a place to land. Don't need to start any trouble. Remember we're trying to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible."

Saerith nodded before remembering Krae couldn't see her.

"You got it."

"I'll be up momentarily," He added

Nar Shadda was still fairly distant. It twinkled like most everything did this far away, but her instruments saw what eyes could not. A vibrant, if not thriving, metropolis. Saerith really didn't care for being this deep into Hutt space and shuddered at thought of coming face to face with Korintha the Hutt.

"Something wrong?" Krae asked. He'd been standing there long enough to see her physical revulsion.

 _Nothing for it now._

"I just spent awhile on Nar Shadda."

 _Six years stranded here_.

Saerith pushed the memories away.

"I can't say I'm excited to return."

Silence followed her confession, and Saerith had just started to think Krae had wandered off again when he spoke.

"I was here not that long ago. I didn't stay long, but long enough to know I didn't want to come back. Got into a bit of a disagreement with a Hutt. It ended poorly for him."

She couldn't help but smile. Any misery that befell a Hutt was okay with her.

"I don't know what happened last time you were here, but you'll be okay with me."

Saerith felt a tightness in her chest at the reassurance. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't even put into words how it felt to be told by someone she could believe.

"I'll go get some gear ready. You stay and work on the ship while I get in touch with some people and see if I can't find this Rodian of ours. Try not to overdo it though. Once I get a lead on him I'll be back for you."

"You sure about that? We didn't even do anything particularly dangerous on the last one and I still botched it."

"First missions are always like that. Now that you've got those jitters out of the way it'll go more smoothly."

He sounded so assured of it that Saerith relaxed.

"What about our guest?" She asked.

"What, your princess?"

She scowled fiercely at the smirk in his tone.

"She'll be fine here on the ship. I'm sure she'd prefer not to get tangled in our work anyway. Delicate one like her." 

Saerith scoffed mentally at this.

 _If she's delicate, I'll eat my head tails. There's steel in that princess._

Still, she had to agree that Tivari probably wouldn't think much of bounty hunting. She hadn't paid Krae to be put to work.

"Alright. I'll call ahead here in a second." She said.

Krae gave her shoulder a squeeze and disappeared back down the hallway into the ship

Saerith tapped a few more buttons, tying into Nar Shaadas control frequency.

"Control, this is the Independent Vessel Specter. Do you copy?"

Some screeching gibberish sounded out of the headset and she quickly opened a second channel.

"Hax, I need you to do some translating."

"I'm not a protocol droid Saer."

"With smarts like yours I'm sure you can handle this."

A few seconds of silence and then.

"Alright, I'm on the line."

Saerith switched back to the first frequency.

"Could you repeat that control, couldn't quite make it out."

Once more a host of unpleasant noises that passed for speech on some planet she'd never been to, grated against her ears, and after a few seconds Hax relayed.

"He wants to know what you want. He's quite busy apparently."

"Requesting permission to land."

"He doesn't care he says."

Saerith shook her head. It was a fitting introduction to Nar Shadda.

"Just connect me to someone who can give me a spot to set down."

Seconds of silence and a flash of white noise told her she'd been dumped from the channel. She was more than a little surprised to find someone on the other end of the line. A feminine voice speaking Huttese.

"I couldn't understand him." She heard them saying to someone else. __

"This is Specter" Saerith said, slipping into Huttese just to save time. "Requesting permission to land."

"Fifty credits per hour." They responded quickly, as surprised as Saerith had been to be talking to someone. Saerith swapped over to the intercom.

"I've got us a landing pad, but it'll cost fifty credits per hour."

"That's fine" Krae answered and Saerith flipped back to the other channel.

"Deal, send me the location."

They forwarded the information and Saerith started her descent into the city. A few short minutes saw them landed and Krae was out the door before she'd even managed to wind the engines down. Pausing long enough to let her know when to expect him back.

 _Time to finish up that patch job, and a few other things._

There was only so much Saerith could do when the ship was in use. There were simply too many ways things could go wrong in hyperspace, or the vacuum. She tapped her way through the ships systems and took the cables she'd patched off the main and back up grids. Then she set out to collect her tools. Tivari had vanished back to her room, and the galley was mercifully empty.

Saeriths stomach coiled itself into tight knots as she packed a bag. Normally the work would've taken her full attention and staved off her anxiety, but this was different. She finished loading her stuff and tried to steel herself against the past. There was work to be done.

She paused just short of the exit ramp and took a deep breath.

 _Once you go down there, you're back._

She hefted the bag up unto her back. Touched the blaster on her thigh, only a little comforted by its presence. One more deep breath and then she walked down the ramp. This was Nar Shadda. This was the place her nightmares were made of. 


	10. Chapter 10

"What are you doing here?"

Saerith jumped, and the welding torch in her hand slipped. She quickly yanked the tool back away from the hull, and was thankful when a brief inspection revealed she hadn't damaged the ship. She flicked the torch off and tossed it to the ground. Frustration at the nearly costly interruption writ plain on her face, she turned and faced Tivari.

"I'm working. What are you doing here?"

Tivari met the question with silence, her face unreadable, and Saerith took refuge in her frustration. Folding her arms across her chest, glaring openly. She wouldn't be intimidated. Not while she was working. Apparently deciding the conversation wasn't going to progress unless she said something, Tivari deflected Saeriths question.

"If you are the mechanic. Why then did Krae bring you to our meeting?"

It took Saerith a second to puzzle out that she was referring to when they'd first met her. Her frustration now paired with confusion.

"What's it to you?" she snapped.

"It seems to me that there was no purpose in you accompanying him. You are not a bounty hunter, yet you will venture with him into the city later to claim a bounty."

 _What's her deal?_

Still confused and only getting more annoyed Saerith unfolded her arms and placed them on her hips.  
 _  
_"What do you know about me?"

For the first time since Saerith had met her, Tivaris composed expression began to crack. Her mouth turned down ever so slightly at the edges. Her annoyance bleeding through.

"Everything, except why you are here."

Saerith stared blankly; taken back by the audacity of it.

 _Everything? She's crazy._

The conversation didn't seem to be going as Tivari had planned because the woman smoothed out her features, shook her head and sighed.

"I do not mean to give offense. You seem suited to your work here on the ship. I wonder only why you would place yourself in danger, by accompanying Krae into situations for which you are not trained."

"I'm training with Krae to-"

Tivari held up her hand and stalled the rest of Saeriths answer.

"You do not want to be a bounty hunter. That much is clear."

Saeriths first reaction was to refute the assumption, but she couldn't deny to herself she found the work distasteful. She'd crossed paths with more than a few bounty hunters over the years, and didn't have much to say about any of them that was good.

"No, I don't want to be a bounty hunter. I just- You know what? Why should I explain myself to you? What about you? Why are you here?"

"I'm hiding."

Her answer came without hesitation. Her tone calm and even. Saerith ground her teeth as her frustration mounted.

"Yeah, well maybe I'm hiding too."

"If that is truly the case; it would make more sense for you to stay out of sight. Your companion will leave a trail easily followed, and if you are at his side you will be noticed. What do you mean to hide from in such a fashion?"

Saerith was stumped for a response. She couldn't even really say that she was hiding. She'd just hoped that Tivari would take the answer, and that whatever crazy had possessed the woman to come and interrogate her would be satisfied.

 _I don't have time for this. How do I make her go away?_

"I could ask you the same thing," Saerith said, her tone cold. "What are you hiding from?"

Tivari accepted the deflection with a stoic expression.

"If I answer your question, will you answer mine?"

 _Well she's got me there._

Saeriths annoyance couldn't deny her curiosity. When Krae had told her they'd be taking on a client who wanted to lay low onboard the ship. Saeriths first question had been exactly what she was now being offered and since meeting Tivari in person that curiosity had grown. She seemed a formidable person in her own right, and Saerith wanted to know what could send the woman into hiding.

"Have it your way."  
"I have your word then?"

Saerith once more folded her arms across her chest, unconsciously trying to create a barrier between them. Tivari was asking a lot of her. She wasn't even sure she could answer the question for herself, and even if she could. Who was Tivari to pry so deeply? She didn't know Saerith, despite all her assumptions to the contrary.

 _Guess you should've thought before you went and struck a deal._ _Curiosity killed the Loth-Cat_

"Yeah, sure _._ "

Tivari nodded, and Saerith suddenly felt bound. Like she'd signed a contract, which was problematic since she didn't have an answer ready.

 _Guess I better think fast._

"Until a month ago, I was a Senator in the Republic. I am wanted as a traitor and a spy."

If Tivari had punched her in the stomach, she couldn't have been more surprised.

 _A traitor?_

It was beyond anything she might've imagined. Saerith had thought perhaps some trouble with The Exchange, maybe some gambling debts. It was common enough, especially among the rich and powerful, but a fugitive from the Galactic Republic?

 _Oh man, that's bad news._

Krae was already less than popular where they were concerned; if their encounter with the Orion were anything to go by. If it was found out they were harboring a traitor they'd all be spaced. Saeriths fear must have shown in her expression because Tivari sighed.

"You are in no danger; the Republic will never find me here."

This did nothing to reassure her.

"But… but why?"

"Why? Because I _am_ a traitor and a spy."

She laid it out as if it were nothing, and stole Saeriths last chance of making sense of the situation.

"A spy for who?"

"You misunderstand, I am not a spy. You could say I manage spies. The information they obtained was for me. A means of gaining an advantage over my political rivals. Blackmail makes things much simpler."  
This nearly brought the situation back onto a recognizable plane. Since the start Saerith had been conjuring wild fantasies about the nature of the charges. Had briefly imagine Tivari to be an agent of the Sith. Saerith felt no particular loyalty to the Republic. If it were as good and great as many claimed, It would've moved into the Outer-Rim and strangled the slave market. It would've shut down the spice mines where so many of those slaves were worked to death. The pits where they fought and died for the entertainment of the galaxies wealthiest scum.

But if she couldn't see her way to forgiving the Republic for it's inaction, it would never compare to her hatred for the Sith. She could lay the names of many a lost friend at their door. People who had wanted nothing but to live their lives in peace.

"So you… you just spied on some other Senators?"

It seemed almost mild in contrast to what Saerith often imagined a traitor to be. Tivari smiled slightly at the question. The first smile Saerith had ever seen from her.

"Yes. Though I assure you, they did not take such a light view of it as you have. The Law is often merciless in how it is interpreted. A spy is a traitor. Perhaps proving my intent could have lessened the punishment, but as I am here standing before you. I believe we both can reason that I did not remain to answer them. Upon learning I had been discovered I fled immediately and have been fleeing since."

Saerith absorbed this slowly. Chewing on the inside of her cheek.

"Well it doesn't sound as bad to me as all that, but I guess…"

Saerith shrugged, the whole thing was beyond her. The worst things she'd ever been guilty of were theft, and lying about how much her repairs were going to cost.

 _But more than half those scum stiffed me on the bill, so I had to make up the difference somewhere._

She reasoned, it was not her fault the Outer-Rim was so full of parasites. Only way not to get swindled was to do the swindling yourself sometimes.

"I believe, "Tivari cut through her ruminations, "That holds up my end of the bargain."

Saeriths stomach dropped as she was recalled to the deal she'd made. In the course of finding out Tivari was a fugitive from the single most powerful Government in the galaxy. Saerith had forgotten to think up a suitable reason for why she was following Krae around.

 _Because I don't know what else to do? Because I'd be dead if it wasn't for him?_

She had no idea what she was going to say. Every reason she could think up fell flat in her own mind. Any of them would've served if she'd were just the mechanic or the pilot. None of it explained why she was willfully following the man into potentially dangerous situations.  
Tivari waited patiently, but there was a knowing look in her eye and Saerith was certain she had an idea of the internal struggle to try and answer the question.

 _I don't know why I'm doing it, or maybe… yeah, that'll have to do._

 __

  
"Look, Krae saved my life not long ago. I owe him a lot."

"It does not seem prudent for you to return that favor by placing yourself in greater danger."

"No, it's not that. I don't work with Krae for me. I go to-"

The ear splitting screech of ship weapons sent Saeriths heart rocketing into overdrive and two brilliant flashes of red nearly blinded her. She crouched automatically, instinctively trying to use the ship for cover, but the rational part of her mind knew they should already be dust. The bolts had been dead on.

Saerith whipped her head around, and located the vessel. A single man fighter, of a make she didn't recognize. Moving at odds with Nar Shaddas normal traffic. It dropped low, coming on at great speeds and fired again. Again, the bolts were dead on and Saerith flung her arms up uselessly. Knowing full well they were about to be vaporized.

The red plasma turned queerly in the last meter and skated across what seemed to be an invisible barrier. Instead of smoking them on the pad, they slammed home into the Specters hull, boiling the outer layer of the durasteel plating into molten metal instantly. Saeriths head turned reflexively to inspect the damage, even a cursory glance told her it hadn't breached passed the surface.

 _Tough bird._

Flickered through her racing thoughts, and she caught sight of Tivari out of the corner of her eye. Arms up in front of her and palms turned outward. Her mouth a grim slash, sweat running down her brow and breathing like she'd just sprinted a mile.

"What-"

She froze as she heard the Specters turrets come online. Six heavy rotary turbo lasers popped free of their housing along the ships top and sides. All swiveling to take aim at the fighter, which was now weaving through buildings and traffic as it came around. Preparing to attack from the other side.

 _Hax_

Relief swelled in her as she remembered her droid was onboard. He'd seized control of the weapons and Saerith knew the fighter wouldn't be in the air much longer. Hax didn't miss.

The fighter came on faster than she'd expected and some small part of her grudgingly acknowledged the pilot's skill. They maneuvered cleanly between obstacles with only inches to spare. The ship dropped low and accelerated; the pilot had seen the weapons.

Four of the six turrets fired a single shot in unison and they ripped neatly into the vessel. Sheering away a third of it on the left side. The engines flickered out and it began to tumble through the air. Saeriths relief was momentary.

 _It's going to hit the landing pad._

Without a conscious thought she moved, tackling Tivari as she went. The pair of them toppled through the air and hit the floor in a tangle of limbs, but Saerith kept the momentum. Forcing them to keep rolling. The sound of the impact was a tremendous roar of screeching metal and she felt the wind of the fighter's passage as its wreckage missed them by feet.

Saerith halted the roll, her heart pounding in her chest. She glanced up and saw a deep gouge torn clean through the walkway between them and the ship. Spanning the entire thing in an almost straight gash. She quickly untangled herself from Tivari and started to run. The ship had nearly sliced the landing pad from its support and she knew she had to get the Specter in the air quickly.

The whole structure heaved under her feet, sending her back to the ground. Face down on the platform she could hear the remaining supports start to snap under the ships weight. She turned her face up, dread climbing with the sound of slowly twisting metal, and then all at once the landing pad buckled. The ship rolled back and away from her as the pad listed. The Specters struts screeching as it's weight began to pull it towards the leaning edge.

"Hax!"

Saerith screamed, pulling herself to her feet, moving towards the falling ship when a weight collided with her back. She hit the ground again, this time someone on top of her. She watched as the Specter tumbled free rolling end over end into the bowls of Nar Shadda with her best friend inside.

"We have to go!"

The voice was distant, almost muted. The Specter had quickly vanished from her sight, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. It couldn't be real.

"Saerith, get up. We can't stay here."

Strong hands pulled her to her feet and she found herself looking into Krae's steel grey eyes.

"Lets go."

"Krae…"

She mumbled. Seeing him stirred something in her. The world came back into sharp colored clarity all at once.

"Krae, Hax was on the ship."

"Come on Saerith."

Krae tugged on her arm, pulling her along Saerith started to move with him and then suddenly Tivari was there on her other side. Krae glanced at her, maybe wondering what she was still doing there now that the ship she'd paid to hide in was no more.

"What happened?" Krae asked her. they began to move more quickly; as Saerith started to catch up with reality. She wasn't sure what to say, and was thankful in a dull way when Tivari stepped in to answer.

"We were attacked. I didn't recognize the ship. It missed us the first time-"

 _No it didn't, those shots were perfect._

Saerith conjured a fuzzy memory of Tivari, hands outstretched. Exhaustion in her normally stoic features. In her minds eye she saw the bolts turning aside at the last second. Tivari had saved them. The woman was a force user.

"The Droid shot it down."

This brought Saerith sharply back to reality.

"Hax." She growled, and they both looked at her. It was then that Saerith realized she was crying. She reached up and wiped the moisture from her face, but never shifted her glare from Tivari.

"His name was Hax." She repeated firmly.

After a few moments Tivari nodded her ascent.

"Hax… shot it down. I do not think I… I do not think we would have been so lucky the second pass. He probably saved our lives."

Saerith closed her eyes, letting Krae's hand on her arm guide her as they left the destroyed landing pad behind. A million memories buzzed through her mind. Bickering with Hax. Trying her hand at some of his games. Trying to convince him to help her in the garage. More tears rolled from under her eyelids, despite all her efforts to hold them in.

 _Hey you! I'm your droid!_

The moment she'd met him played back to her with vivid clarity. When she glanced down to find the absolute strangest droid she'd ever seen looking up at her. She had no idea. Now he was gone, and she was here. Trapped on Nar Shadda again.

"Come on. I know a place where we can hide while I get this figured out. You're welcome to come along."

Krae's voice lanced through her grief induced stupor and she opened her eyes in time to see Tivari nod her agreement. Despite everything, a small smile found it's way on to her face. At least this time she wasn't alone.

. . .

Hax watched the fighter crash through six different cameras, and quickly determined the only plausible outcome of the big gash it cut through the landing pads supports.

"Ah crap."

He disconnected from his remote access to the turrets and opened his visor.

 _This is going to suck_

The little droid skittered quickly out of Saeriths room, and down the hallway. The ship turned violently as the landing pad gave way beneath it and it began to slide. Hax just made the galley as it tumbled free and began to turn in the air.

Normally this would've made moving within the ship impossible, but Hax, unlike his many siblings, was equipped with a powerful electromagnet that kept him firmly on the floor. 

_So, take that with your fancy repulsors and faux wings. You'd be tossed to death in here trying to fly around._

Maintaining the magnets grip on the floor was integral to his survival, and so he was forced to move much more slowly than he would have like.He made the exit ramp as the ship came level briefly. A few seconds was more than enough time for the droid's powerful processors to determine his only course of action.

 _Sure could use some wings right now though._

He lamented briefly as he leapt clear of the Specter. He drifted through the air, as he fell two dozen metersmore before he came in range of the side of a building. His magnet pulled him tight to the wall and he slid downward in a trail of sparks. His momentum gradually slowing.

His fall arrested he curved his serpentine neck, and looked down. Watching the Specter plow clean through a lane of shuttles that never saw it coming. Clip the side of a building and go into an extremely violent spin. Hax ran some calculations and determined that even his magnet wouldn't have been able to stand up to the centrifugal force.

"Well that was the closest I ever came to dying."

He informed the wall as the Specter fell out of sight.

"Pretty impressive if you ask me. I'd like to see anyone else walk away from a three mile free fall in a death box."

This reminded him that he had indeed fallen a long way. He curved his neck upwards. The landing pad from which the ship had fallen was lost to sight and on the other side of the gap many miles above him.

"Ah crap."


	11. Chapter 11

"This isn't the first time I've been stranded."

"This isn't the first I've been stranded here," Saerith countered. Krae nodded in reply.

"Lucky for us too. You've been pretty helpful in navigating this place."

The praise was lost on her. It had been three days since they were attacked. Three days since she'd watch the Specter plummet into the lower regions of Nar Shadda. For three days the outside world had been a distant thing. The emptiness in her chest seemed to fade out the worlds sensations.

"We are not stranded."

Tivari's eyes glittered in annoyance from within the dark recesses of her hood.

 _She keeps saying that._

Tivari had assured them from the first that acquiring a new vessel and leaving Nar Shadda would be simple, but Krae had insisted they locate the Specter. Despite Saeriths hatred for the moon she had been inclined to agree.

There remained a slim hope. Hax was not an organic, and even if he had been severely damaged in the fall. There was some small chance the she would be able to recover his essential parts from the wreckage, and restore him to working order. Either way she wouldn't leave Nar Shadda without his remains.

The path of destruction left by the several ton ship was proving to be more elusive than she'd expected. It had ricocheted off buildings several times during it's fall. The impacts had made its trajectory chaotic, and the debris it threw off in it's tumble created many false trails.

Saerith hooked a finger into the wrap that covered her face, exposing her mouth to take in some fresher air. Krae had insisted they all hide their faces directly after the accident. A wise decision it turned out. Within the hour bounties had been posted for anyone fitting their description.

 _Hutts don't like it when you destroy their stuff I guess._

It didn't matter now. They had followed the ships path deep into the lower city of Nar Shadda. Even the poorest wretches didn't come this far down. At least not so long as they could still find more favorable conditions above. These levels stank of all the refuse living beings were known for, and far away from the heavily trafficked cantinas the silence was oppressive.

Her eyes swept across the room, and fell on a scattering of bones fetched up against the interior wall, partially concealed by some rubble. It was a grim reminder of the things she'd learned during her enforced occupation.

 _There are only two reasons anyone comes down this far. To kill or to die._

She tore her eyes away from the scene and walked to the other side of the room to peer out of the window, inspecting nearby structures for signs of damage.

"Krae"

He hurried to her side and she pointed wordlessly. A piece of the Specters hull had broken away, and lodged itself firmly in the side of a building. The wicked eyed Mandalorian emblem was recognizable, even with the paint partially scraped away. Saerith threw back the dark robe they'd acquired to hide her distinctive coloration and tattoos. Freeing her hands, she vaulted through the window to land on the narrow ledge outside.

"Hey," Krae called after her in protest.

Saerith ignored him as she searched the levels below and her heart jumped as she saw it. The twisted remains of the Specter had punched through a wall, half in and half out of the building where it had finally come to a stop.

"I see it, it's a couple levels below us."

Movement caught Saeriths eye, and she noticed a pair of shuttles hovering on the far side of the ship.

"Scavengers. Doesn't look like they've been here long."

She turned back and saw Krae already headed off to find a way down. She jumped back into the room, unsnapping her holster as she moved to follow. She hadn't gone more than a step when Tivari grabbed her shoulder.

"I see no reason for you to accompany him."

Saerith felt a brief sense of shock, followed quickly by a pulse of anger.

"Hax is down there, I have to go get him."

"You cannot believe he is still operational."

Saeriths anger pulsed again, stronger this time and Tivari jerked her hand back as if she'd been shocked. Saerith opened her mouth to refute Tivaris claim, but the snapping retort she'd prepared was stalled by the echo of Krae's voice calling back to them. He had found the way down.

She closed her mouth, satisfied herself with a brief glare and turned away; hurrying in the direction of Krae's voice. The soft sound of Tivaris footsteps telling her she was followed. 

* * *

Hax scrabbled at the wall, and just managed to flop himself over the ledge as his magnet lost power. He had been climbing all over, sorting through as much data as he could manage trying to find Saerith and had recklessly run his power stores dangerously low.

Things were not working out like he'd expected. He predicted with his aptitude for slicing on a tech world like this would've made finding Saerith practically easy. When the wealth of information proved too much for him to sort through at speed. He had commandeered a couple servers and launched some crawlers to dig through it for him.

From there he'd set out on foot. Heading to the locations he calculated Saerith would most probably arrive and monitored information flowing through those areas, but apart from a bounty notice that fit her description. There was nothing.

Everywhere a ship could be found for hire within a reasonable proximity to where the Specter had initially landed was watched. Hax ran over his probability results again, for the millionth time that hour. Everything indicated that Saerith, and the other organics should've arrived in one of these spaces.

Hax watched a ship come into dock, feeling as hopeless as a droid of his exceptional ability could feel. He ran through the bounty descriptions again. They were pretty apt. He dug up the footage of Saerith fleeing the landing pad with Krae and Tivari.

 _Well that's odd.  
_

The camera that watched that landing pad had obviously been neglected for a lengthy period of time. A thin layer of gunk on the lens reduced the clarity of the image sharply. Many of the details listed in the bounty notice couldn't be obtained from the recording. Hax had initially assumed the owner of the pad had gone through their security footage and acquired their description from there. Obviously, someone would be upset if you broke their landing pad.

This conclusion had now become improbable. Someone else had provided their descriptions. This brought Hax back to wonder about the fighter. Who had attacked Saerith and Tivari. Whoever it was, he was sure it was connected to one of the other two. Saerith didn't have any real enemies that Hax knew of, and he devoted a significant amount of attention and his considerable talents to knowing.

He watched a different ship at a different dock preparing for takeoff absently as he mused, but was forced to set the problem aside. He didn't know enough about Tivari or Krae to answer his questions.

 _A situation I plan to rectify… as soon as I find Saerith._

He was sure she would show up in one of these locations and wait for him soon. Something about this though rubbed him the wrong way. Like he'd made a mistake, but he knew he hadn't. Sure, Saerith had tried to abandon him on Dantooine, but she'd come to her senses in the end. Hax was sure she learned her lesson.

 _This would be easier if they weren't hiding!  
_  
Hax could acknowledge it as a prudent course of action. You did not want to be recognized as a mark on the Smugglers Moon. It didn't make him feel any better about how hard it was making his job.

 _You guys could at least be helping me to find you._

Again this bothered him. The entirely unfamiliar sensation that he was missing something kept coming back to him. He ran the numbers, and turned up what he expected. The odds that Saerith would do anything she could think to reach out to him was one-hundred percent.

 _So why can't I find her?_

In addition to being confident that Saerith would be trying to make contact, was also a list of the most probable methods she'd use. He was certain she would employ one of them and yet three days had passed with nothing. His math was never wrong. Reality had never outguessed him before. So why now?

 _Unless…_

"Ah crap, she thinks I'm dead."

Hax popped himself unto his feet and scurried along the ledge, running the new numbers. If Saerith believed Hax had remained within the ship during it's fall, then there was only one place she'd be heading toward, and all his data agreed.

 _How could that green idiot think I would die like that?_

Hax had to admit to himself that this was his fault. A relatively new experience for him. He had assumed Saeriths estimation of his skill was at least equal to his own. It had flawed his calculations and now he had wasted three days. It was a humbling experience.

 _It's not my fault she doesn't know how great I am._

* * *

"It's a damn shame."

Saerith peeked from her hiding spot on the outside window ledge, studying the scavengers carefully. The voice was gruff enough to match any of the four coarse men pacing around the exterior of the Specter, shifting rubble to clear out a work space.

"Waste of a fine ship."

Saerith couldn't help but agree with the sentiment to a point. From her view on the outside, she could see the extensive damage. If others saw a wreck, it was nothing compared to what she saw. This was the death of something beautiful. It was more than a waste, it was tragic.

She peeked around the corner again and saw Krae's pale hand waving at her from the far side of the room beyond the group of scavengers. Letting her know he was in position. Normally Saerith would've been more inclined to try and talk it out, but this bunch had two things working against them. She wasn't going to risk Hax on the half-chance of a peaceful resolution, and this was Nar Shadda. There were no peaceful resolutions.

She pulled her blaster from it's holster and fired two shots into the scavengers grouped around the wreck. The first shot went wide, but the other took one of them in the shoulder; sending him toppling to the ground. Saerith jerked back behind cover just in time. Return fire tore chunks out of the edge of the window, and with her job finished she saw no reason to hang around. She began to scoot back along the ledge. Moving for the window to the adjacent room.

She hit the floor running, and darted for the doorway back into the other room. She arrived in time to see the last man go down under a barrage of blows from Krae. Saerith passed through the door and Tivari detached herself from a shadow and fell into step beside her.

Saerith felt the same pulse of anger at her presence, though with their goal in sight Saerith had to admit that her anger at Tivari was due to the fact the woman had given voice to her fears. That Hax had been rendered entirely inoperable by the ships fall. Still her anger didn't dissipate, and she picked up her pace as she approached Krae.

The would-be scavengers one and all sported bruises and lumps where Krae had struck them, and were unconscious to a man. Saerith leaned over to inspect the one she'd shot. Luckily for him, he'd been wearing some light armor and her blaster was not a powerful model.

 _They're alive_

"They are alive?"

Tivaris words mirrored Saeriths thoughts, except for the cold inflection.

"Sure, no reason to kill them. They're nobody."

Saerith wasn't going to let this get any bloodier than it needed to. She turned away and inspected the ship.

"I'll make this quick, there'll be more soon."

"Wait, you aren'-"

Saerith turned back to look at Krae. Her eyebrow raised, and he stopped speaking.

 _Who's gonna crawl around in a broken ship if not me?_

The pause was brief. Krae was never one to be indecisive.

"Alright, just make it quick. Be sure to grab my pack."

"I just said I'd make it quick. Be done already if you'd stop fussing."

The ship had created a great deal of rubble when it plowed through the wall, and Saerith picked her way through chunks of slag half as tall as she was until she reached the side of the mangled vessel. She dragged the tips of her fingers across the crumpled metal, recalling the first time she'd seen the ship, and briefly mourning its loss.

 _I'd fix you if I could.  
_

The twisted wreck was beyond her skill to fix, she shut her eyes and watched it tumble away from her off the landing pad in her minds eye. The only chance she'd had to save it from this fate slipping away from her. She knew that was false, if she had managed to board the ship she would have died with it. The absoluteness of that truth didn't change her mind. If it all happened again, if Krae didn't stop her. She would try.

The outer plate came away easily under her probing fingers. She shifted the heavy Durasteel, sliding it sideways. Once the plate was clear enough for her to duck in. She found herself facing a new obstacle almost immediately. The ship had been built with a secondary hull. This wasn't exactly surprising, though it did present a problem.

She pushed against the plate and felt some give. It had been damaged in the fall. She heaved her weight against it, trying to break it loose. The plate bent a little under her exertions but would give no more than a few centimeters. Her feet started to slide from the force of her efforts, and she stopped. Staring at the stubborn blockage.

 _I'm sure those guys brought some tools with them. They must've planned to cut their way in._

She looked back over her shoulder, intending to call out to Krae and was mildly startled to find Tivari standing behind her.

"Let me help."

The woman kneeled down next to her, not waiting for Saerith to answer.

 _Even both of us aren't going to budge this thing._

Saerith turned again resuming her search for Krae, and was more than little annoyed to see he was entirely absent.

"I apologize for what I said about your droid."

She spoke fast, and Saerith could almost call it a mumble. The declaration itself was nearly as surprising as Tivaris obvious discomfiture in speaking it. Saerith had begun to imagine her incapable of dropping her stiff formality. The apology must have cost her pride a great deal.

"and I appreciate you saying nothing about what happened up on the landing pad."

This confused Saerith briefly, and then the red of those deflected blaster bolts flashed before her eyes. The bolts Tivari had turned aside to save them.

 _Actually I just forgot. I wasn't really keeping it a secret._

"Be that as It may."

"What?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to say I spoke out of turn. I assure you it will not happen again."

"Hey, you don't need to apologize for the same thing twice. I should apologize myself. You didn't say anything I wasn't already thinking."

Tivari nodded, a clear acceptance.

"Let us leave it in the past and return to the business at hand."

"The business at hand is that, that plate isn't going nowhere."

"Anywhere."

"What?"

"Let us try this."

Tivari reached up, resting her fingertips on the Durasteel that blocked their entry into the vessel. At first nothing, and then slowly it started to bend. The creaking of metal folding under immense pressure was like music to Saeriths ears. After only a few moments the hole was wide enough for her to squeeze through. Tivari stopped whatever she was doing and released a pent-up breath in a rush.

"That's a pretty neat trick. Would save me a lot of time on repairs."

Sweat dripped from Tivaris face and she quickly wiped it away.

"Many things are possible with The Force. It is taxing however. I am sure your tools are a more efficient alternative."

 _Judging from how pale you look I'd agree._

"Alrighty, I got it from here. Princesses shouldn't be caught kneeling, you know."

Tivari's mouth turned up at the edges, and she pushed herself back up on to her feet.

"Of course."

Hand resting on the side of the ship, Saerith paused before she ducked in. One thing, out of all the things that had happened up on the landing pad had nagged at the back of her mind.

"Tivari."

"Yes?"

"Why would you tell a complete stranger what you told me? The stuff about you being a… on the run. I mean you don't know anything about me."

Tivaris crystal blue eye locked unto Saeriths own deep green. Her face composed and entirely unreadable.

"Not so. I told you already. I know everything."

"How can you-"

"Hey!"

Krae's bark tore through their conversation. Saerith intent on it was caught entirely off guard and forgot she was halfway into the hole they'd made. She jerked towards Krae's voice and smacked her head.

"I thought you said you were going to be quick!"

Saerith rubbed the tender spot on her forehead and called back.

"Hey, Durasteel plates don't bend themselves. These things take time."

Despite the throbbing pain, she saw Tivaris mask crack for a second as a tiny smile flitted across her features. Saerith grinned more openly and winked. She turned to crawl into the ship and was halfway through the newly opened hole when her levity melted away.

The ship was upside down, and she found herself in the curious position of looking up at the pilot and co-pilot seats. Most everything was bent, or broken and debris littered the floor.

 _Formerly the ceiling._

The damage wasn't bad as it should've been. The ship had fallen several miles, bouncing this way and that with all the momentum of several tons answering the call of gravity. The outer-most layer of the hull had been designed to crumple in an impact to protect the interior, and perhaps through sheer dumb luck no particular area had taken repeated hits.

Still, the ship was done. Even its wonderous design and top of the line materials couldn't save it, and the destruction of her home reminded her why she'd come. She levered herself all the way into the cockpit. Ducking around the pilot's seat and heading slowly down the hall.

The ships power would've failed pretty early in it's journey downward, and the area directly beyond the hole she crawled through was pitch black. She pulled a small light from her belt, and clicked it on. Her hand against the wall as she walked deeper into the vessel.

It was harder to piece together the full extent of the interior damage with the narrow beam of her light. She scanned back and forth and gasped despite herself when she found the back half of the galley had been caved in. The hallway to her room looked open, and she wanted to rush toward it. She figured that was most likely where she'd find Hax.

She ignored the thought of him crushed between the ceiling and floor in the galley. If that were his fate she didn't want to know yet. She resisted the urge to charge down the hallway to her room and turned the other way. Heading for the only remaining cargo room that hadn't been blocked by the damage. It was fortunately where Krae's precious pack had been stored.  
She passed through the doorway, her light on the floor so she could navigate the debris strewn across the floor without tripping. Her eyes turned downward she caught sight of the initial sparks on the upper edge of her periphery and stopped flicking her flashlight up.

A shower of sparks exploded from a loose cable dangling inches from her face and she jumped back. Her heart racing with the acute knowledge of how close she'd come to dying. Saerith had been working on and around ships for most of her life and had witnessed the unfortunate results of coming into contact with hot cables.

She stood there for long moments, observing the cable and trying to calm herself. She had no way of dealing with the problem on hand, and she highly doubted she'd be able to access the grid via an interface. She was going to have to duck the cable. A cold sweat broke out across her skin at the prospect.

Briefly she wished she was ignorant enough to think she'd be alright if she didn't touch it, but she knew that under the right circumstances, the charge could arc into her body from across the gap. from there it would go to ground and she'd be dead. The only bright side was that it might short the line and the person who found her smoldering corpse wouldn't suffer a similar fate.

She knelt down and crawled closer, trying to keep her flashlight turned up so she could watch it. Not that this would accomplish anything if the worst happened. She doubted even Krae could dodge lightning. At the last moment she gave up the awkward position needed to keep her eye on the cable. Took a few deep breaths and moved forward quickly, keeping herself as low as possible.

When she knew she'd cleared the danger she continued to crawl. Just to be sure, and she made sure to check above her before she stood back up.

 _Damn it Krae. This pack of yours better have something really important in it._

Now much more cautious, Saerith followed the curve of the hall to the first door. It had been damaged, and was partially ajar.

 _Finally, some luck._

She squeezed through the gap and quickly located the obnoxious pack. She shined her light over the black material. Searching for a way to open it. More than a little tempted to see if it was even worth carrying out. The impulse faded quickly, she'd already promised Krae she'd bring it to him.

The pack proved more difficult to fit through the door than she anticipated, and only after several minutes of shoving did it finally fall out on the other side. It thumped to the floor and she felt a vindictive pleasure at the rough treatment. It was slowly becoming a thorn in the side of her life.

"Hope it's not breakable," she muttered insincerely as she squeezed back out.

A short, but even more terrifying trip back under the cable pushing the pack along the floor in front of her, and she was back in the galley. She stopped and leaned against a wall, wiping sweat from her face. With any luck the hardest part was behind her.

She searched the debris on the floor passively, while she waited for her heart to return to a normal pace. Hoping she'd find some bit of Hax should could use. Hoping not to find anything at all. Not sure which she wanted more. After several long minutes of fruitless searching, she pushed herself away from the wall and looked at the pack.

 _I'm not carrying the thing around with me.  
_

She left it sitting by the hallway that lead back to the cockpit, and headed for her room. Mentally preparing herself to find Hax in a thousand pieces.

 _It's okay. So long as I can use them._

Saerith was by no means confident she could repair him to a working state. Even if she abandoned reconstructing his chassis. He was in all respects an extremely complex droid. She found the door to her room undamaged, but open. Saerith searched up and down the hallway outside. A sense of dread growing in her stomach. The only reason it would've remained that way was if it had been opened shortly before the ship lost power.

She saw nothing, and quickly crossed the threshold into the room. It was jarring to say the least, to be in a space that had become familiar and to find it so alien. The bed, bolted to the floor was above her, and given that she owned very little. There wasn't much out of place, beyond the fact it had been turned upside down.

She searched in vain. She knew Hax wasn't going to be here before she'd come in. It had been her last hope. She scanned what had been the floor of her room absently. Tears slowly streaming down her face. She imagined what it had been like. Tossed around by the turning ship. The impacts that would've smashed him into walls. The unfortunate circumstances that had lead him to be in the galley when it gave way, for she was certain now that's why she found no sign of him.

She pushed the imaginings away, and tried to focus herself. Her eyes swept over her bed and she laughed through her tears. It was often enough she'd seen Hax standing on the ceiling of her room, looking down at her. She smiled at the memory, even as it pained her.

 _So this is what it feels like._

Her smile slowly faded into a frown, and her thoughts once more returned to the tumbling ship, but now instead of Hax helplessly tossed in the spin, unable to escape. She saw him anchored to the floor by his powerful electromagnet. The fact she'd found not a single fragment of his body took on a whole new meaning.

 _He's alive._

* * *

 _I'm dead_

Hax scrambled between crates, trying to evade the creature. He had never thought too much about being small. As one of the few things that could really comprehend the sheer size of celestial bodies he felt that relatively he really wasn't that much smaller than other droids or organics. As it turned out, the problem with relative measurements is that it didn't take a planet to kill you.

He skittered free of the crates cover and made a break across the walkway. He heard the crates scatter as the thing plowed through them hot on his tail. Normally he would've run up a wall to escape, but he was still low on power. Failing that he would've just ignored the threat. It wasn't like he was edible, and being made of alloys had its perks.

But this beast was something else and he was in no hurry take chances with his life. It'd be a complete waste of his efforts over the previous days. The monster came on slobbering, massive and more teeth than you could count.

 _More than you could count, not me. There are one-hundred-twenty-eight._

He darted between the legs of organics on the street. Most of them were armed, and he was sure if he lead the monster towards enough of them eventually someone would shoot at it, and when the shots started he almost slowed down to watch the monster get what was coming to it.

Then the searing plasma burned a scorch mark into the ground to his right.

 _They're shooting at me?_

Shouts went up behind him and if there were any follow up shots he didn't notice. He saw his out, and bolted for a pipe running up the side of a building. Narrow enough for him to easily grasp in his dexterous claws. Once safely hidden on top of the roof he spun around, just to see.

The street below had turned into a battle royal, and the beast that had chased him was only making up a small fraction of the chaos. Blasters were being fired indiscriminately, raining brightly colored death on anything and everything.

Hax shook his small reptilian head and darted away across the roof. He didn't want to be anywhere around when the dust settled, and everyone was dead. Well, everyone except him.  
He leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Contemplating his narrow escape.

 _If organics would behave rationally every once in a while, that wouldn't have turned into such a mess.  
_

It wasn't until he paused at an especially large gap between one roof and the next that he realized his problems weren't over. The mad dash had used up more of his remaining power stores than he'd anticipated. A lot more.

 _Damn this moon. If it wasn't for the haze I could…_

It was amazing how many thoughts could flash through a mind in it's final moment of consciousness. Especially when that mind is so superior to others. More amazing was in this instance, how few there were.

He'd leaned over the edge of the roof before he realized his trouble, and as the last reserves of his power left his limbs and he tumbled forward. Hax was simply glad there was a street not far below and that he hadn't come to a ledge over one of the many voids in Nar Shadda.


End file.
